Smoke & Mirrors
by nakenochny
Summary: When all hope is lost and revenge burns in your veins, everything becomes a means to an end. Forced to flee her village, Sakura finds herself on a journey where the distinction between reality & illusion, and friend or foe is marked by a very fine line.
1. Chapter 1

Hey, everyone. So ... I've been working on this since September, if I do recall, and I've finally gotten the first couple of chapters how I want them and so it's (finally!) time to post. I wasn't actually planning to post this until next week, but I've got absolutely nothing to do right now (aside from study for my midterms... -ahem-) so I figured now was as good a time as any.

The story's called 'Smoke & Mirrors' if you hadn't gathered that already and ... well, it's sort of my baby. I had this idea pop in my head and just keep gnawing at me until I started to write it. So far I've got twelve chapters done but most of them still need editing, and I couldn't really tell you how long it's going to be right now if I tried. I also couldn't fit the full summary in the box on the submit page, so here that is:

**Summary**: When all hope is lost and revenge burns in one's veins, everything becomes a means to an end. For Haruno Sakura, it was no different. Forced to flee her village, she finds herself embarking on a journey where the distinction between reality and illusion, and friend or foe is marked by a very fine line.

Also, I know this is labeled as a Romance story but the pairing right now is only Sakura, but that will change. Right now, I think I'd like to keep you all guessing. And just for the record, my author's notes will hopefully not be this long again.

That said, if you find any typos or anything, let me know. I try to go over it with a fine-toothed comb, but I don't always catch everything.

Oh yeah, and enjoy.  
And review, too, please. :D

* * *

Racing through the treetops, the only sounds distinguishable to Haruno Sakura's ears were that of her own pounding heart and gasping breaths. She had been running for hours and she knew that they were still pursuing her, though she had yet to see them even _once_ in the hours—_it felt more like _days—they had been chasing her through the words of her birth country.

Had someone approached her that morning and told her that by day's end she would be running from her own compatriots, she'd have laughed in their face and told them to shove a kunai where the sun doesn't shine. However, the fact that she couldn't slow her pace for fear of being captured by nin of her own village—or worse, killed—was a reminder of the grim reality of her current situation.

It had started during a simple information-gathering mission with Team Kakashi—sans their team leader and with two new additions, Yamato-taichou and a strange young man named Sai. The mission had gone off without a hitch up to the point when Orochimaru had shown up to kill 'Sasori,' who was not the now-dead Akatsuki, but instead her temporary team leader. Their cover quickly became null and the next thing Sakura Knew, Sai had betrayed them and gone off with the snake sannin.

Yamato-taichou had witnessed the exchange between the pasty nin and the sannin using a mokuton clone and their team had quickly given chase despite their injuries, only to be thrown off the trail. All of the precautions their transitory team leader had put in place were for naught when dealing with Orochimaru and his medic sidekick, which quickly made the Konoha team's first priority to get back to the village to inform the Godaime that Shimura Danzo was working with Orochimaru to meet some end, presumably a coup d'état.

Around that time was when the trouble had _really_ started. Her team had made haste in returning to Konoha, Yamato-taichou having taken the time to explain the circumstances surrounding Danzo and ROOT along the way, also letting them know that Sai was a part of the secret ANBU organization that worked for the war-mongering opponent of the Sandaime and his ideas. The crippled man had been trying to place himself in the Hokage seat for years, which meant that the Godaime would be his prime target.

Upon reaching Konoha—the three of them already weary and injured—they were met with the horrifying realization that the coup was indeed real, and very much underway. She had watched in horror as her childhood home was burnt to the ground before her very eyes, and by its own nin at that.

It had taken Yamato-taichou feverishly shaking and yelling for her attention to finally shift from the blazing inferno that was her home to the man standing beside her. He had told the two of them under no uncertain terms—both she and her kyuubi container teammate—to head to Suna for back-up. Naruto, ever the hero, had opened his mouth to give protest but was quickly shut up with the reminder that their ability to reach their ally quickly would mean losing the village for good or coming out on top.

Sakura had wasted no time and began pulling the blond west in the direction of Sunagakure. Not long after their departure however, ROOT caught their trail and the masked nin had quickly taken measures to separate them. The emotionless shinobi hadn't bothered to outright attack her the entire time they had pursued her—they hadn't even thrown weapons. If she had to guess, she figured that they were waiting for her to tire herself out before they tried to capture her.

Coming back to the present with that thought in mind, she reached into her hip pouch and pulled a soldier pill from its folds, slipping it past her lips and biting down on the tiny sphere. Immediately following the crunch and the taste of bitterness she felt a rush of energy overtake her system, her chakra increasing as well, allowing her to continue her journey westward to the safety of Konoha's desert ally.

It wasn't until she was halfway through River country that a distant thought struck her: if she continued moving was and into Wind country she was sure to be taken by ROOT-and if not by them then by the unforgiving climate of the desert. She had no water left on her person, nor the luxury of time to stop to obtain any—and by the time she reached the arid region she was sure to be dehydrated already without the addition of the taxing heat of the sun.

In that moment she knew with almost absolute certainty that if she continued west she would never make it to Suna and she quickly made her decision, swiftly changing course due north towards Rain country. It was a huge gamble considering that no one knew the state of Rain—last anyone had heard it was in the middle of a civil war—but she would take uncertainty over certain death any day. She knew that Naruto would without a doubt be able to reach Suna—ROOT and the desert be damned. She would catch up to him once the pressure of ROOT had subsided and she'd had a chance to regain her strength.

She felt her pursuers speed up in their chase and struggled to match their pace. She couldn't afford to be caught now—at her current speed, she estimated she would soon reach the border separating River and Rain countries and with it, those giving chase would cease their pursuit. They would continue to follow her through the civilian country of River and Konoha's current ally of Wind, but they wouldn't dare to entire the uncertainty that lay in the Rain country without first consulting their superior. If she was being at all honest, she wouldn't have dared to try the feat herself were she not so desperate for a reprieve.

But she _was_ desperate and she needed to rest before she collapsed, so her options were considerably more limited at this point. Death by enemy nin sounded a fair but more noble than death by her own comrades—because no matter how twisted their outlook on the village and who they thought should be in charge, they were supposed to be fighting on the same side.

As she began to close in on the border separating the two countries, she felt her pursuers up their speed and impossibly managed to match her pace to theirs, pushing her body harder and going at speeds faster than she'd ever traveled before. Her muscles screamed out in protest, but she was _so_ close, she couldn't stop when freedom was so close at hand.

The closer she drew to the border, the easier it became to tell how close she was because the ROOT members behind her amped up their speed and even began throwing the weapons that had been so conspicuously absent. It seemed that now that they were about to lose her in unknown territory, they were finally seeing fit to actually try to stop her.

She dodged their weapons and continued on, deflecting as necessary until she finally crossed the border, able to tell the imaginary line by the telltale spattering of rain that increased the further north she pressed. She continued to be followed over the boundary for nearly a kilometer into the war-torn country of Rain but quickly retreated after a few more minutes of pursuit.

Even absent the imminent threat of death she still didn't stop, knowing that if she slowed down before she reached a safe place that she may very well collapse from exhaustion. She would much prefer to be in as safe a place as possible before trying to rest, as opposed to being exposed to the elements and other threats to her life.

It was only as the sunlight began to disappear behind the treetops that her speed reduced to take the opportunity to scan the landscape for a cave or some other type of shelter to set camp in. It wasn't long before she came across just such a formation and quickly set about laying traps and setting a perimeter of chakra sensors that would alert her should someone get to close. Her eyes were only half open as she made her way back and her bedroll was barely flat on the ground before they closed fully.

Her last thought before slipping into a fitful unconsciousness was a silent prayer that Naruto would make it to Suna safely, succeeding where she had failed her village.

* * *

When she regained consciousness—because she could hardly call what she'd done _sleeping_ so much as _passing out_—the first thing her senses told her was that the rain continued to fall, not that she was surprised. The second thought that breached her sleep-addled mind was that none of her sensors had been tripped, which meant that she had not been discovered while she slumbered—a detail she was incredibly grateful for considering her life may very well have been forfeit if she had.

Her eyes opened blearily and she realized idly that it was still dark—_dark again_, she mentally corrected herself: she'd managed to sleep through an entire day. She thanked the kami that for whatever reason, Ame nin hadn't bothered to run border patrol near her location, otherwise she would more likely than not have woken to a very different scene than she actually had.

She laid immobile for an immeasurable amount of time, mind poring over the events of the last seventy-two hours as she slowly woke; it was hard to believe all that had happened. Now more than ever, she wished she hadn't been so adamant to follow the leader that Akasuna no Sasori had given to her. Shizune had been right to express worry at them following the lead given by the dying Akatsuki—for reasons entirely different than she had voiced, but still: if she and Tsunade had taken heed, Danzo never would have had the chance to so effortlessly stage and execute a coup.

'_How did he manage to do it so quickly?_' She wondered for the nth time. It was mind-blowing that Orochimaru had moved an entire _army_ past her team without them so much as noticing a thing, it just didn't seem possible. Her brain ached at the onslaught of possibility about how the snake sannin had managed the task. She reminded herself that the man _did_ have innumerable kinjutsu at his disposal, so it wouldn't be worth it to ponder the finer details of just what had happened.

Finally, she found the strength and pulled herself into a sitting position. Her eyes took in the lines of her natural shelter and the sound of the rain hitting the vegetation outside invaded her senses once more. She would eventually need to find a more permanent place to seek shelter until she set off for Suna, but the most pressing matter at the moment was that she needed to eat.

There was not point to gathering wood for a fire, as it was far too wet for any of it to be dry and she didn't have the luxury of time to waste waiting around for it to do so. She supposed a well-executed katon jutsu would take care of the problem of the wet timber, but she knew no techniques of the element so it seemed as though she was out of luck for a warm meal.

She supposed she wasn't expected to be perfect, but now more than ever she was thankful that she'd managed to merge her Inner personality with her own—just the thought of the endless ridicule she would have suffered otherwise was almost too much to bear. After all, being around two katon types for as long as she had been, it wouldn't have been impossible for her to have memorized the hand seals and practiced on her own.

Resigned to her fate, she reached into her travel pack and withdrew a nutritional bar. Any other food she'd packed required a fire and the prospect of such a thing at present was nil.

As she absently munched on the bland food bar, she contemplated her next move: she needed to find a small village or town to stay in. She supposed she could travel under the guise of a wandering doctor, but she couldn't let it become known that she was a kunoichi of Konoha—it would surely mean the end of her if she did.

That meant that she would have to change her appearance—it wasn't the prospect of doing so that bothered her, it was more the fact that in order to keep her shinobi background hidden, a henge was out of the question. Her hair would have to be dyed, which just the thought of such a thing rubbed her the wrong way. She wasn't near as vain as she had been in her genin days, but the idea of covering her pastel locks with a color that wasn't her natural just sat the wrong way with her. It took forever to come out and she never quite felt like herself—though in her current situation, she mused, that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

It also meant that chakra healing was out of the question, which was just as well considering that civilians would be frightened by the blatant demonstration of her shinobi background. On top of that, she would be able to amass her strength for the impending trip to Suna and she knew that every last bit of it would be necessary to make it there in one piece. Traveling from Konoha to Suna was one thing, but she had never made the trip from so far north, so she would need to tread that much more carefully in order to avoid becoming food for the scavengers that filled the desert.

Once she had finished her 'breakfast,' she rummaged through her pack and pulled out a storage scroll. It had been a gift from Tsunade after her graduation from training to be a medic to working in the hospital and the field as one; it was a tiny little thing, but size was not a proper indicator of how much it held. She had everything from empty scrolls to disguises and medical supplies stored in it with plenty of room to spare, and now more than ever she was thankful for the gift from her shishou—what it held may very well prove to save her life.

She quickly replaced all but the scroll back into her pack before setting off in search of a lake or stream to bathe in and color her hair. Kami knew how badly she needed to wash up after all the running she had done in the past half week. Hopefully, but not likely, the water would help to wash away some of her worries as well.

* * *

A huge sigh of relief left Sakura as the entrance to a small village came into sight from just around a bend in the road. She had been traveling since the sun first poke over the overcast horizon and the rain had finally stopped earlier in her trip. Having travelled at a civilian's pace meant she was on the road for nearly all house of light in the day: the sun was now beginning its descent into sunset and regardless of how deeply she had slept, she felt nowhere near well-rested. Her chakra was still pitifully low and her body ached so deeply that it felt like it reached her bones.

Once inside the gates, she peered around curiously with dull brown eyes—contacts, as her eyes were nearly as distinctive as her pink hair in their own right—looking everywhere for an inn in which to sleep.

A ways down the road she found exactly what she'd been looking for, a wooden sign hanging above the door with the unimaginative moniker 'Inn' painted haphazardly across the planks. She wasted no time in approaching the building and stepped inside the shabby lobby before walking to the withered old man seated behind the equally-disintegrating counter.

A brief exchange was had with the suspicious villager before she managed to talk him into allowing her a room. She wasted no time heading to her destination, but not before requesting that she not be disturbed for any reason other than absolute emergency.

Once she was caught up on her rest and had regained her chakra, she would spread her cover of being a wandering doctor,-but for now, she was much too exhausted to begin deciding specific details of the explanation she would give to village's people; she could only hope that they were used to seeing travellers from time to time.

A solid twelve hours of sleep later left her feeling much more well-rested and ready to take on the chore of establishing herself—however temporarily—in the small community. She showered and dressed quickly, not stopped for an instant to look at the stranger in the mirror—before heading off to the village square where the daily market was located.

She made small talk with the villagers, or at least those amiable enough to start a monologue with someone they'd never met before. The people she spoke with were pleasantly surprised once they found that she was trained in the healing arts and one of them had even gone so far as to offer her lodging in an empty cottage past the edge of the village limits. She would still have to pay rent, but the price was a pittance compared to what she would have paid back in Konoha—she supposed that it was having a skill that worked so well to her advantage.

By sundown her things were moved from the inn and into the cottage and she'd even found the time to see a few patients before the residents all retreated behind the safety of closed doors for the night.

She leaned into the threadbare sofa in her temporary living room, feeling more comfortable than she had in days. The troubling circumstances surrounding her home were never far from her thoughts, but she took some small measure of comfort in knowing that Naruto wouldn't stop until he was safely behind Suna's walls-if there was one work that had never made it into Naruto's vocabulary, it was failure.

That wasn't to say that she wasn't worried any less. Anything could have happened to the sunny blond on his way to inform Gaara of the happenings in Konoha: the ROOT nin could have injured him severely; another still had him becoming dehydrated and passing out in the desert; even more unlikely than those situations, what if he had run into Akatsuki during his travels? She highly doubted the S-class criminals would be stupid enough to think of setting foot near Suna after what had just happened with the Kazekage, but there was so much _space_ between where they had parted ways and the boundary of Sunagakure. She knew that nothing would stop Naruto, but that didn't stop her from fretting over the 'what if's.

She came to the decision then and there that she would stick around in this village for a week or two to let ROOT draw away from Rain before heading on to Suna to catch up with her teammate. Hopefully, she would arrive on time to help plan the counterattack against Danzo and Orochimaru to defend Konoha and take it back.

For now, however, she would lay low and regain her strength, for when she did leave for Suna, she would surely need it all for the trip and the events that would follow.

* * *

A week passed quickly and without incident. Sakura spent her days treating villagers and those from surrounding villages, and her nights were spent worrying over what was going on in the world outside the borders of Rain. She had heard whispers of increased shinobi activity in the woods surrounding the village—ROOT, she feared—but it seemed that news of the outside world was just as scarce here as news of Rain was to the lands outside of its borders, as she had heard nothing of the coup and its outcome or of her rambunctious teammate.

From what she had seen and garnered from the villagers, Rain's civil war was over—the former regime said to have been crushed by a force whose leader was said to have single-handedly obliterated whole shinobi villages in mere hours. Sakura wasn't sure how much stock to put into the tale, but the people of the country seemed much happier than she would have expected. She knew that they were suspicious of her—and rightfully so—but that didn't stop them from seeking her out to treat their ails.

She never used chakra in her healing, resorting to only homeopathic remedies and basic triage—she couldn't afford for word of her ability to use chakra to spread. As it was, it was bad enough that word had traveled of her skills and she'd seen people travel for up to a half a day to seek treatment from her. The line she was treading was a very fine one, and she knew that her solace was to be short-lived.

It seemed that her paranoia was well-founded, for on the morning of her tenth day in the small village and the day before she planned to set off for Suna, trouble found her. She had just finished tending to her last patient before lunch when she felt three chakra signatures coming very close to her temporary home.

At first she tried to rationalize her fears away, concluding that it was only a squad patrolling the area, but she knew that it wasn't the truth. In the days she had been in the village, she'd not felt a single developed chakra signature come within five kilometers of her location.

Her fears were reaffirmed when she felt them close in on her residents—each from a different angle around the small structure—intent on cornering her in the cottage. She watched anxiously as her patient walked off on the path away from her house—never noticing the shinobis' presence—and into the wilderness before she set off to gather her things. Thankfully, she'd already begun packing her things for the impending trip to Suna, so it took only a moment.

Her boots were only just on her feet when she heard the monotonous tone that could only be associated with the emotionally detached members of ROOT.

"Haruno Sakura, nukenin of Konohagakure, come quietly and we will not see fit to harm you."

The label of nukenin should not have come as such a surprise, nor should it have wounded her as much as it did—what with Shimura Danzo having presumably taken the helm as Hokage and her having run as she had—but it was a tough pill to swallow and she couldn't deny that it _hurt_.

She felt the trio closing in on the cottage and she scrambled to find a route of escape. As she felt them closing in on the walls of the structure an idea came to her and she felt guilty for what she was about to do to the space she had been occupying—but she was lost as to any other way out of her current predicament.

Concentrating chakra to her right fist, she slammed it into the floor of the cottage, the energy bursting out in all directions. She watched as the walls of the cottage crumbled like they were made from cheese and split the rough in half, a large chasm forming overhead. As soon as the opening above her was large enough, Sakura charged chakra to her legs and leapt through the hole, taking to the trees immediately and leaving the ROOT members behind—momentarily disoriented by the ground having crumbled from under their feet. She knew that the diversion would only allow her a thirty-second head start at the very most and right now, every second counted.

Once again, she fled for her life, running from her own compatriots. Pushing back tears of frustration she headed further north, wondering idly if all the running was really worth the throbbing ache it caused in her chest.


	2. Chapter 2

My Spring Break was last week and I was out of town, which is why I didn't post this sooner. I've still got to do the final edit on Chapter Three, but hopefully I'll have the next one up in the next week, two at the most.

I want to thank everyone that alerted, favorited, and reviewed the story. I'm glad you like it so far.

Regardless, here's Chapter Two. :)

* * *

Chest heaving frantically, Sakura cursed as she came to an abrupt halt before a large rock face, cut off from going forward any further by the looming obstacle. She didn't bother to consider climbing her giant hurdle, knowing she'd be picked off with kunai or shuriken faster than she could say "Hokages," so her only options were to run in a different direction than she'd been traveling previously or to stay and fight. She knew the more logical option would be to flee, but _kami_, she was sick of all the running.

She quickly made her decision to stay and fight, knowing that her only prayer was to hope that they would underestimate her abilities; but having come from ROOT—now with presumably unlimited access to all personnel files in the village—she knew that the chances of that were unlikely. Fleetingly, she wondered how often Tsunade had their files updated before shoving the thought from her mind, forcing her focus to the task at hand.

She turned her back to the rock face as the three masked nin came to a stop, situating themselves in a semi-circle that surrounded her on all sides, ensuring at the very least that she would not escape unscathed. The faces their masks bore were unlike those of any she'd ever seen before—still looking like animals as all ANBU did, but the mouths and eyes of these were twisted in wild, untamed expressions, giving the individual behind the mask the advantage of a more save appearance than that of a regular ANBU. Despite the look about them, of one thing she was absolutely sure: these subordinates of Danzo, the ANBU ROOT, were incredibly dangerous.

"Haruno Sakura, by order of the Rokudaime Hokage Shimura Danzo we order you to stand down and come quietly." The one directly before her, bearing a mask with the face of a ferocious tiger, spoke. She quickly presumed him to be the leader of the group, judging by the fact that he'd been the only one to speak thus far.

"And If I don't?" She bit out rhetorically, as she already knew the answer. Her teeth ground together in irritation, her hands curling into white-knuckled fists. Of its own accord, Chakra began to channel to her hands—so much so that the cool blue glow reflected off of their masks and back at her.

"We are authorized to use any amount of force necessary to ensure your return to Konoha, alive or otherwise." The tiger responded and though she could not see his face, she could envision a vicious grin on his otherwise blank face. These ROOT, she knew that they lived only for the mission—Yamato-taichou had told her as much—but apparently they weren't adverse to a bloody battle, either. Most ANBU Tried to completely the mission with as little energy expenditure as possible, it seemed those rules didn't apply to Danzo's men.

Despite her apprehension of what might come, a confident smirk found its way to her features. She didn't bother with words any longer—they would be pointless with these mindless puppets anyway—instead choosing to fall into a battle stance. At least she knew they would be able to interpret _that_ language.

"Very well," the tiger drawled. Immediately the nin to her left—bearing the most bizarre expression she knew she would ever see on a rabbit—began weaving hand seals she quickly recognized as those of a genjutsu she'd mastered in preparation for her second shot at the chunin exam. Apparently her personnel file didn't give away her entire jutsu repertoire, which was probably the luckiest break she'd received in weeks.

She felt the air shift around her and quietly dispelled the illusion before it had the time to properly take effect, fluctuating her chakra erratically as though she were truly caught inside the illusion; the technique was a relatively harmless one that simply trapped the opponent inside their own mind, used for a stress-free capture of one's enemy or to give the opportunity to flee should the user be outclassed, preferably against a non-genjutsu type. If there weren't so much adrenaline coursing through her veins and she wasn't in the midst of trying to figure out the quickest way to end this before it got too nasty, she would probably have been offended that they saw her as someone so easy to capture. She wasn't the apprentice of the Godaime Hokage for no reason.

The leader began his advance on her immediately, pulling chakra ropes from somewhere she couldn't see as he moved nearer, intent on binding her.

"Looks like that wretch didn't do as great of a job training her apprentice as she claimed." The rabbit who had cast the genjutsu—a female from the voice—spat.

Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes, which were unfocused in order to keep the illusion that she was trapped in the jutsu. The leader drew closer, and when he was within arm's length, she quickly dropped the ruse, eyes losing their glaze. Her fist flew into his sternum, having come at him too quickly for him to even bother trying to dodge.

If not for the other two she still has to deal with after he was through, she would have relished the visual of his widening eyes through the mask just before he went careening backwards through the trees to eventually slam into one some fifty or so meters away. He slumped to the ground following his impact, either dead or unconscious. If she were honest with herself, she preferred the former.

The two remaining stood shell-shocked, but the shock only lasted for a moment. The nin to her right—a feral looking monkey mask sat upon his face—who was previously stationary until now slashed forward, ninjato poised for the kill. Having not anticipated the attack, Sakura was forced to take the brunt of the hit with her bare forearm, the sharp blade slicing through the flesh effortlessly. She could not stop the cry of pain that sprung from her lips, nor the torrent of blood that came rushing from the wound immediately following the attack.

She brought her other arm around, chakra-laden fist sailing toward her assailant but only managing to clip her attacker in the shoulder as he leapt backward, a grunt escaping his lips as he went. The small bit of contact was enough to make the nin grasp his shoulder, arm dangling uselessly at his side from being dislocated. She heard a growl from behind her back and swung around, leg raised in a high swinging kick as the rabbit charged her, kunai in hand.

The woman ducked the leg, kunai posed to slash at the leg holding Sakura vertical, but did not expect the fist that followed the swinging leg, which slammed into the woman's face, shattering her mask and knocking her unconscious instantaneously. Sakura grit her teeth as the kunai in the woman's grasp tore through the muscles of her upper thigh at the same time as her fist hit home. The only thing that kept her standing was sheer force of will.

Disoriented from her other injuries, Sakura wasn't anticipating for the last nin left standing—the monkey—to blast her with a fuuton jutsu from behind. She flew face-first into the rock face and knocked her head against the side of the hard formation with a sickening crack before falling to the ground. She rolled onto her back and lay prone on the ground for an immeasurable amount of time, trying to regain her bearings. As she lay there, the felt more than saw the masked nin advance on her, ninjato in hand once more.

He stood over her, blade poised for the killing blow and he spoke, voice monotonous and without sympathy. "No longer will you filthy idealists reign over Konoha. Danzo-sama's word is law and those who go against the law shall fall as your precious Tsunade-hime did."

Sakura's eyes widened at this proclamation, watching in what seemed like slow motion as the blade began to make its descent. At the last possible moment, she regained control over her mind and body, rolling to the side just as the blade struck the stone where her head had been not milliseconds previous, sparks and fragments of rock showering the ground where she had laid.

She jumped to her feet as quickly as her pounding head and wounded leg would allow before turning tail and running. The ROOT agent took no time at all to recover from his failed attack and was only steps behind her as she took to the trees once again. Her injuries would only slow her down and she knew that she couldn't run for very long, so she began to throw every weapon she had in her hip pouch, hoping that one would connect with enough force to knock the man from his pursuit. He returned her weapons in spades, only managing to miss her bit a hairs width, some of the weapons managing to nick her skin and clothes.

As she emptied her pouch, her hope came to fruition as she heard the man groan from behind her before his chakra signature fell to the forest floor, no longer moving. She knew she hadn't killed him, but she had at least given herself a good head start on her escape. They would follow her no longer at present, but she needed to get well away from this part of the country and heal herself, which would prove difficult as she'd nearly depleted her chakra in her getaway and the subsequent battle. She needed to distance herself from her would-be captors and bandage herself before she lost more blood than she already had—her pursuers would require much more healing time that her.

She pushed any thoughts but those of finding safety from her mind and resigned herself to another night of camping out in the wilderness. She absolutely couldn't show her face in any town or village looking as she did without drawing unwanted attention to her person and she honestly didn't have the energy to try to keep up pretenses, so it looked like she was roughing it.

After dropping to the ground once her shelter was secure, Sakura felt the floodgate that had been holding her emotions from the forefront of her mind overflow. Tsunade was dead—killed in the midst of the coup—the ROOT shinobi had all but said as much before he took a stab at her.

Tears flowed unchecked from her eyes as she hugged her legs to her chest, feeling as small and helpless as she had the morning following Sasuke's defection from Konoha. What would she do without the guidance of her shishou—the woman who had taught her to be her own person, her own kunoichi? The woman who had…

She cut that train of thought off, scrubbing her hands furiously across her face. She knew that if Tsunade were standing before her now, she's already have punted her to Iron Country for her behavior. She was no longer that little girl—left cold and defenseless on a stone bench—she was a strong and capable kunoichi. More than that, her shishou would want her to be proud of the sacrifice she had made, dying while trying to protect Konoha and its citizens' way of life.

She took a steadying breath and looked down at herself, assessing the extent of her injuries. The adrenaline from the fight was beginning to wear off and in its place, pain was quickly setting in. She knew she didn't have a fraction of the amount of chakra required to heal her wounds, but at the very least she could stem the blood flow and numb the surrounding nerves until she had rested enough to begin the daunting task the lay ahead of her.

Mind made up, her hands wove through the hand seals to activate her medical ninjutsu and she went about her task. Once she regained her chakra and healed herself she suspected that she would have to soothe the ache from her muscles for days, for they would surely be stiff afterward—but there was nothing she could do now short of taking a soldier pill and boost her energy to get the job done now. Seeing as she was still recovering from the last time she'd taken one, she would just have to suffer through the discomfort. It was no matter, for she'd endured worse during her training with Tsunade.

Pushing all irrelevant train of thought from her focus she set about completing the patchwork job in record time, though it left her feeling incredibly drowsy.

She reached into her pack and pulled the first thing from it that she recognized as nourishment, eating it without tasting anything at all. Once she was finished, she curled into a ball—too tired to pull out her bed roll—and fell asleep, sending a silent prayer to whatever kami were listening that everything would be alright, that this was all some awful dream she would wake up from in the morning.

She knew such thoughts were fruitless—that it was all very real—but she couldn't help but wish that they were somehow true.

* * *

Two days passed before Sakura was able to completely heal herself, mostly because she had done far more damage to herself than her enemies by pushing her already injured leg muscle past its limit. By the time all was said and done, she'd managed to tear a tendon in her leg past the point of repair for a medic less skilled than she, and though her arm wasn't in nearly as bad of shape as her leg, she'd still managed to do quite a number on it, as well.

One fully healed, though incredibly sore as expected, she set about changing her appearance once again. She had no more dyes—if the chemicals would even have taken to her already dyed hair in the first place—so she had no choice but to change her appearance with the aid of chakra, however risky it might be.

She decided to forego a traditional henge, instead deciding to use a technique she'd seen Ino use once when she was dealing with a particularly shady—and shinobi—boyfriend of hers. She supposed that using the technique should have been the most obvious from the beginning and wondered why she hadn't thought of it before, as the only shinobi capable of detecting the miniscule amount of chakra it used were ones with dojutsu like the Byakugan or Sharingan, and even then their kekkei genkai needed to be activated for one to see it clearly.

That thought in mind, she focused a small amount of chakra to the roots of her hair and once the application was evenly applied, set about turning her hair from its current muddy brown to the first color that popped into her head—a sunshiny yellow. Fingering at the ends of her hair, she smiled mirthlessly and went about coloring her eyes with the same amount of thought after the contacts she'd worn previously had been disposed of. If she'd have thought it prudent to look in a mirror once she was finished, she'd have been hard-pressed to keep her tears at bay, for they were the same honey amber of her mentor's.

Satisfied with, though ignorant of the specifics of, her appearance, she began hobbling to the north with the intention of moving deeper into Rain Country and—unbeknownst to her—closer to Amegakure. At the very least, she needed to find a town so that she could restock her rations and she prayed that the ROOT shinobi wouldn't think to look for a blonde—the color stood out far too much for one to truly stay hidden.

She slowly limped her way northward, finally coming across a lone inn to the side of the road just as the sun was dipping below the horizon. After she'd acquired a room for the night, she took the chance of asking the homely old baa behind the counter how close the next settlement was. After eyeing her critically for the longest moments, the woman informed her that the next town was some thirty miles away. At her current pace, she would have to travel from dawn until dusk to make the trip in a day's time.

She thanked the woman by leaving a few extra ryo atop the check-in counter before heading to her room for a shower and to get some sleep. She would need all the rest she could get If she had any hope of making the trip in one day, especially with her muscles feeling as tight and sore as they did, even after they'd been soothed with chakra.

* * *

The sun was at its highest point in the sky when Sakura chose to break and finish off the last of her rations as lunch. She was making better time than expected due to the fact that she had chakra-massaged the ache from her leg completely before setting out on her thirty mile trek to the nearest town. Atop her being ahead of schedule, the weather of the day was uncharacteristically sunny for the region, so she had decided to take advantage of the warmth and stop in a clearing to eat instead of eating while she travelled.

She'd saved the best of her pre-prepared food for last and was munching away at the last bit of it when she felt something: large chakra signatures—and they would run right into her if they continued on their same course. Her first conclusion was that ROOT was onto her once more, but a moment's analysis told her that the squad sent for her was still injured and these chakra signatures were _much_ too developed to belong to any of Danzo's subordinates.

As the signatures—three, she counted—converged on her location, she began to stand and should her pack, the remains of her lunch left abandoned in the damp soil once she realized what was coming. She squinted slightly to try to focus better on them as they slowly came into view on the other side of the clearing, trying to catch a glimpse of her newest trio of harassers. In hindsight, she should have known to run as soon as she felt them coming near to her location, but her muscles were still sluggish and she that she couldn't outrun them even if she wanted to. Not to mention, the events of weeks past had left her undeniably worse for wear physically, mentally, and emotionally.

If she were meant to die here in this clearing in the middle of a country that wasn't her own, desperately struggling to meet up with her teammate, she would accept her fate graciously. She only hoped that Naruto would forgive her for failing him and the village, and that Tsunade wouldn't beat her too badly once they met up in the afterlife.

Her eyes widened as the three finally came into view, train of thought thoroughly derailed once she saw them. Who they were did not matter, only one thing did: black cloaks, red clouds. The Akatsuki had found her—what they wanted from her or whether they'd stumbled upon her by accident, however, remained a mystery.

Her gaze drifted from the symbol that left her stomach in her bowels, and if possible, it dropped even lower as her eyes connected with those of the very last person she ever wanted to confront from opposite sides of the battlefield: Uchiha Itachi. Her eyes had already locked with the crimson of the Mangekyo Sharingan before her brain had even had the chance to comprehend what was happening and it was at that exact moment she knew that she was irrevocably screwed. She didn't feel a shift, but she _knew_ that she was already in the clutches of his deadly dojutsu—there was no question about it.

She sighed, now truly resigned to her fate and decided that being the first to speak could do nothing to make matters worse than they already were. "If you're going to kill me, you may as well make it quick, Uchiha Itachi. I'm in no condition to fight you or your Mangekyo Sharingan."

"It is not your death the Akatsuki seeks, Haruno Sakura-san." The smooth lilt of the Uchiha rang softly across the clearing. Had she been younger and less experienced than she was, the simple sound of his voice would have reduced her to a pile of metaphorical goo—but she was not.

"What is it the Akatsuki seeks then?" She asked, unable to stop her head from quirking to the side in a curious manner. She couldn't imagine a single thing the Akatsuki could want from _her_ of all people, except maybe to be a lure for her kyuubi teammate, and even then Naruto wasn't foolish enough to fall for such a trick. She hoped.

"Your allegiance," was the impassive response he gave.

Ignoring the monotonous tone he had used to respond, she balked at the man, a maniacal laugh threatening to spill from her lips. "What the hell would the Akatsuki want from me?"

"You are a skilled medic, are you not, Haruno-san?" He asked, but his tone held no inquiry. It was a statement of fact and nothing more.

"And why the hell would the Akatsuki think that I would agree to such a ludicrous request?" She all but sneered, hands finding their way to her hips. She knew she shouldn't be testing the Uchiha's patience but this was absolutely _insane_.

"You are a nukenin of your village and those who might persuade you from joining the Akatsuki no longer pose a problem."

"My shishou may be dead and gone but there is _no_ way that I would turn my back on Naruto! I would _never_ turn on my family, unlike you, Uchiha. You may as well Mangekyo me into the next century if you think I'd ever do such a thing."

A smirk. "There is no need. The kyuubi has already been taken care of."

Her face contorted in absolute horror. "N-Naruto?"

"Aa."

Her mind couldn't take the shock of the information she had just been told, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Not only was Tsunade dead, but Naruto as well? It just … it wasn't possible. Nothing could stop the hyperactive blond once he set his mind to something. _Nothing_. Not even the Akatsuki. Or at least, that was what she had thought.

Her body chose this moment to shut down, the stress of the past few weeks compounded with the knowledge that her unstoppable teammate would never see the light of another day, never live to see his dream of becoming Hokage fulfilled.

The last thought before the darkness consumed her was of mischievous blue eyes and a smile that would blot out the sun.

'_Naruto…_'

* * *

Itachi felt the connection sever between them as soon as consciousness left her. He shunshined across the clearing, catching the unconscious kunoichi in his arms before her body had the chance to hit the ground.

"Tell me you tortured the bitch!" The foul-mouthed Jashinist rubbed his hands together eagerly, a savage grin lighting his features.

"I did not, Hidan." Itachi responded, settling the woman on the ground for long enough to remove the pack from her shoulders and situate it on his own. Once this was done, he lifted her back into his arms and crossed the length of the clearing to rejoin his associates.

"Fucking useless. Should have let me take care of the bitch, I'd have—"

"She would be of no use to Leader-sama if you had. We must return to headquarters now, he is waiting." He stated before darting off in the direction of Amegakure, not bothering to wait for the irritating nukenin and his partner.

* * *

Don't forget to leave a review to let me know what you think. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Well, it's definitely been less time between updates this time, which probably has to do with the fact that I'm having an awesome day and because I've gotten so many great reviews. Okay, so, most of what I said before definitely doesn't apply at all anymore, considering that I've been trying to update the story since last Thursday and it wouldn't let me at all! It's only just now been fixed, which was pretty obnoxious when it happened, but I'm glad it's been fixed now. So anyway, I really can't thank you guys enough for your feedback for this story, because it really is my baby and I'm glad you're all enjoying it. Now, onto some things that I should have said forever ago.

I'm pretty sure this story wouldn't be possible without the help of the amazing katzenherrin. She's been kicking me where I need it whenever I need and without her, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten nearly as far as I am today. And despite the fact that she insists that she is no beta, she's pretty awesome at it despite the fact that English isn't her first language. She's actually just pretty awesome in general. If you're into KakaSaku, you should go to the Favorite Authors part of my profile and click on over to check out her fics. They're pretty amazing. :D

As always, if you find any errors on my part, let me know and I'll fix them. I try to get everything, but sometimes they slip past me.

So, without any further procrastination on my (or FF's) part, I give you Chapter Three. :)

* * *

The first thing Sakura noticed as she came to was that the world seemed much dimmer than it had before—she was inside, but how she'd come to be there was a mystery to her. Her eyebrows furrowed, eyes still closed, as she tried to recall what had happened before she'd gone to sleep.

No, not sleep—she'd passed out.

She groaned, bringing her hand up to rub her forehead in irritation at her behavior. She was such an awful shinobi, passing out in front of the Akatsuki. _The Akatsuki! _How the hell had that happened? Tsunade would tear her limb from limb if she ever found out about this.

Her eyes shot open, sorrow apparent in her viridian orbs. One the depression moved to the forefront it began to weigh heavily on her as she recalled the details of what had happened leading up to her passing out.

Sweet, silly Naruto—why did it have to end that way for him? His life had been snuffed out like a flame in the wind when he'd barely made a dent in the list of great things she knew he was capable of accomplishing, things that he had been determined to accomplish. This wasn't the way things were meant to turn out—she knew that down to the very core of her being. He was supposed to grow and mature—physically and mentally—into an even more amazing shinobi than he already was, changing the world one antagonist at a time. He was supposed to succeed Tsunade as Rokudaime Hokage and lead Konoha—and the entire ninja world, she imagined—to a time of great peach and prosperity.

The knowledge that she would never see him again, never see the amazing deeds he had yet to do, made the world lose much more light, the hope draining from her as water would from a cracked glass.

However, the feeling that followed made her blood boil like molten lava in her veins, tear ducts searing with unshed tears of equal parts anguish and rage. Those tears would not be loosed—they had no part to play in the path she'd been driven to take. Knowing what the world had lost in the death of Naruto made her new path that much easier to accept—she was going to tear each and every one of those Akatsuki bastards to shreds, no matter _how _long the task took to complete.

By the kami, if they _wanted_ her, they would _get_ her; she would show them the wrath of a _true_ shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, regardless of what it cost her. She would also see to it that Danzo fell in the process for what he had done. She would walk the warpath to see to it that those who acted of their own selfish interests—anyone who had anything to do with the coup in Konoha or the death of her comrades—would all be taken down by the time she was finished.

"You're awake." Her eyes immediately averted in the direction of the person that had spoken, orbs landing once gain on the crimson of Uchiha Itachi's Sharingan. The tears dried almost instantly from her eyes and she realized belatedly that this time there was no Mangekyo, only the three tomoe of the dojutsu's most basic form.

She ignored his statement purposefully, instead choosing to comment on the state of his eyes like the apprentice of Tsunade that she was. "Either you trust no one or you're intent on going blind. Which is it?"

The corner of his mouth quirked slightly, but not enough to be considered a smirk. He too ignored her words, instead jumping right into business. "Leader-sama wishes to see you once you're ready."

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak at the sudden nervousness she felt following his statement. However, she would not allow this opportunity to slip through her fingers: she was being all but handed the chance to go deeper under cove r than anyone had ever been, the chance to find out more about the nameless and faceless Akatsuki members that had been terrorizing the shinobi world. She had failed her mission to reach Konoha's ally in Suna and she was being given the chance to redeem herself, and she'd be damned if she didn't seize it.

At the very least, she could get the information she gathered to Suna in hopes that Gaara would use it to formulate a plan of action to begin the task of destroying the terrorist organization.

She pulled herself into a sitting position, her mind made up, and began forming the hand seals that would produce medicinal chakra before setting about soothing the ache from her overworked muscles. Not only were her recently healed wounds still stiff and sore, but her entire body felt as though she hadn't moved from her previous laying position in days. Despite the fact that she still viewed the man as an enemy, as far as she knew, he was the only one who knew the answer to what was on her mind. "How long was I out?"

"Two days." The Uchiha murmured in response.

She shook her head in disgust at herself as she finished her work and let the chakra fade from her palms, grimacing as brown tresses caught her eye; she hadn't realized the henge had dropped. The bland color was of no use to her now that she had been found at any rate. Not wanting to walk around for an indeterminate amount of time having to look at the lackluster color, she concentrated chakra to her scalp, turning her hair from its current muddy shade to her natural color—it would have to do until the dye grew out.

Once she was through altering her appearance to its natural state, she looked around in search of a mirror to see whether she'd gotten the shade of her hair right, but after finding none she decided that her best guess would just have to do for now. She threw her legs over and slid off of the bed and fearlessly looked the silently observing Uchiha in the eye. "I'm ready."

He nodded wordlessly and stood, trailing out of the room, leaving her with no choice but to follow.

The trek through the base was long and constantly winding upward through hidden passages and empty hallways, leaving her to wonder how anyone could possibly remember the way around the place. Though she supposed that after nearly a decade with the organization, she would more than likely know her way around the place, too.

She hoped her self-imposed mission didn't take her as long as he had been with the organization thus far, but she was willing to give her life if it came down to it. She _would_ redeem herself.

Her guide suddenly stopped, causing her to nearly crash into him at the abrupt halt. She watched with curiosity as he lifted his right hand and the stone in it began to glow red before a doorway that hadn't been there previously appeared on the otherwise seamless wall.

He pushed the door open before moving to the side, motioning for her to cross the threshold.

She took a steadying breath before she stepped into the room, noting that the door shut of its own accord following her entrance. Her eyes peered curiously around the sparsely decorated room before settling on the lone occupant in the room aside from herself. After a moment, she approached the desk where the ginger-haired man was seated and situated her body in the empty chair adjacent to him.

Minutes passed in silence as each of them silently sized up the other. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Sakura, he spoke.

"What is your response to the offer Itachi extended to you?" He asked, his deep voice soft, but holding an unmistakable air of authority.

"Is there much of a choice? It's not like I've got anywhere else that I could go." She responded; she was hard pressed to keep her bitter contempt for the individual across from her out of her voice. Here sat the man that had given the order to capture her fallen teammate—he was one of those responsible for his death.

Had it not been for the mission she had tasked herself with, not to mention the eyes of the man—purplish-grey with black rings, the _Rinnegan_, kekkei genkai of the Rikudo Sennin himself—she'd have jumped across the desk and strangled him with her bare hands or, at the very least, died trying.

"There is always a choice, Haruno-san. What is yours?" He locked his fingers on the desk before him in a pose reminiscent of her defected teammate as he watched her intently.

"I see no option other than the one before me, so I've no choice but to choose the one that's obvious." She responded, expression betraying none of her thoughts.

"You seem to have taken the news that Itachi relayed to you in stride. Does the demise of your teammate not affect you unfavorably?" His tone was one of question, but the look in his eyes told her that he already knew the answer.

At this her mask cracked, allowing some of her grief to filter through and onto her expression. She averted her eyes for a moment to regain some of her lost composure before refocusing her gaze on him. "I'm not so callous as to not care for my comrades, especially those I was close to. But there's nothing that can be done to change what's happened. You've given me an opportunity and seeing as I've got nowhere else to go without being hunted down by Danzo's brainless dicks, I'll take what's in front of me."

"I, too, share your dislike of Shimura Danzo, which is why, should you choose to accept membership into Akatsuki, I would like to make you an offer." He watched her, a calculative expression on his face as he did so.

In turn, her face contorted in confusion, the question showing blatantly in her eyes.

"Once the objective of capturing all of the bijuu has been completed, I will require individuals that I can trust to take over the roles of Kage for the five great nations. I would be willing to offer you the position of Hokage should you help us obtain that goal."

She stared at him, mouth opening and closing as though she were a fish out of water, eyes as wide as saucers. What made the whole situation even more unbelievable was that he was actually serious. Not only was he _serious_, he was offering the position to _her_. After taking a moment to reign in her shock, she gathered her wits enough to speak. "And what of Itachi, or any of the other members of Akatsuki? Why would you ask _me _to take this position?"

"Not only do you already know the ins and outs of the position, Haruno-san, but none of the others would be fit to take over for a village that they are not familiar with. Itachi has previously turned down my offer so it's only natural that I should offer the position to you. That is, if you choose to help us complete our mission." He answered, and she could tell that there was no sarcasm in his words, he really was offering her shishou's old job to her once they completed their plan of conquering all.

"As I've said before, I've nowhere else to go." She spoke softly, eyes shifting to focus on the floor, and she cursed herself for sounding so broken, so lost. It wasn't an exaggeration of the part she was playing, she realized. She really _did_ have nowhere to go. She would never make it out of Rain country, even if the Akatsuki let her go should she choose not to join them, ROOT would see to that. Even barring Akatsuki and ROOT, Sakura couldn't show her face in Suna, not after her abysmal failure following the coup.

"Then do you accept the Akatsuki's offer of membership?" He queries, hands coming apart and moving off of the desk and somewhere she couldn't see.

Gaze meeting his once more, she responded. "I do."

"Then welcome to the Akatsuki, Haruno Sakura. You should know now that you will be partnered with Itachi, as Kisame is off on his own set of missions for the time being. However, we currently have a bit of a problem with providing a ring for you."

Her eyebrows furrowed, eyes still trained on the man before her. She turned her head to look at the door as she heard it open, Itachi's form passing through the doorway moments later, but quickly faced the redhead again, opening her mouth to ask what he meant, but he beat her to it.

"Your ring belonged to Orochimaru while he was a part of the organization. When he defected, he took it with him." He explained, eyes shifting to Itachi as he stood to her right on the short side of the desk.

Her mouth clamped shut with an audible 'clack' and she fought to keep her complexion from going paper white. Orochimaru? If there was one person in the world she wanted to wait until last to deal with, it had to be the snake sannin.

Her brow creased thoughtfully as she struggled to keep her composure and after a moment or so, she had control again. "Do you know where the ring is located?"

"I've not bothered to try to find it up until now, but once you are equipped for your mission, I will inform the two of you of its location. Until then," his attention shifted suddenly, his gaze moving to the Uchiha, "Itachi, make sure she is properly outfitted for the mission. You know what she will require, see to it that she has everything."

"Hai, Leader-sama." Itachi responded impassively. Sakura wondered at the Rinnegan user for his ability to control the Uchiha, or at the very least, to order him around.

"If that's everything, then you are both dismissed." He began to turn his seat in the opposite direction but hesitated momentarily, eyes finding Sakura's once more. "Once again, welcome to Akatsuki, Haruno-san."

She nodded, unable to form words, and stood before following Itachi as he left the room. One more, the door closed on its own.

She followed behind him silently, taking the same twists and turns as before until she could no longer keep the question to herself. Now, how to go about asking the very same person she had insulted only a few days prior? It was one thing to demand answers after she'd just come to consciousness, but a whole other matter now that they were comrades of a sort.

"U-Uchiha-san," she cursed herself for stuttering at time like this, for sounding so unsure of herself. She took a steadying breath and continued, voice much stronger this time, "What did he mean by 'outfitted'?"

"A cloak and any other equipment you should require." She nodded in understanding and nearly ran into him again when he stopped abruptly, this time turning to face her. "You do not need to be polite when it is obvious that you would rather see me dead. We are partners in the same organization, not friends."

She bristled, unable to reign in her temper after it had been dormant for so long. "I refuse to work with someone on uncivilized terms, especially if I have to trust them with my life, _Itachi_."

"Konoha still raises its shinobi with the same unrealistic ideals, I see." He deadpanned. Had he been anyone other than who he was she'd have punched him into last week, but she knew that he could kill her before she'd even balled her fist so she settled for the next best thing, brushing past him in what she thought was the right direction.

She heard a quiet chuckle from behind her before he spoke again. "You are going the wrong way, _Sakura_."

She stopped, grumbling under her breath and pivoted, arm held out in an exaggerated gesture for him to lead the way. "After you, your highness."

He smirked before brushing past her in the direction that she had been heading moments before. Her arms crossed over her chest and she glared daggers at his receding back, wondering who the profile Konoha held on Uchiha Itachi had never mentioned what an insufferable asshole the man was.

Four days would pass before Sakura and Itachi set out on their mission, mostly because it took the tailor charged with making her robes three days to finish them. The old man had insisted that he could finish them more quickly but Itachi had declined, telling him to take his time. The man had seemed so relieved that it made Sakura wonder just what sort of slave labor the organization made this man perform to get things done in a manner the Akatsuki normally deemed acceptable.

On the eve of her third night at the headquarters—Itachi had informed her that Amegakure housed the headquarters and that there were many bases scattered all over the known countries—after a particularly grueling sparring session with the Uchiha, she had returned to her room to find a paper-wrapped parcel sitting on the floor in front of the door to her room.

She had picked it up, handling the package as though it were filled with explosives—though she'd yet to see him, she knew that Deidara was in the building, and after her recent defeat of his danna she didn't want to imagine what he was capable of—and placed it on her bed, cutting through the strings holding it together with a kunai from her hip pouch, allowing the paper to fall open and reveal her Akatsuki robes.

There was no going back after this, she realized. '_Not that there ever was_,' her mind supplied and she viciously pushed the thought away.

She reached forward to touch the cloth, hesitating just before the fabric brushed her fingers. She scoffed ather own behavior, embarrassed at herself for acting as though a harmless piece of clothing was going to reach out and bite her. She pushed all of her insecurities from her mind and grabbed the topmost robe from the stack, holding it at arm's length to get a better look at the thing.

It … looked like every other Akatsuki robe she'd ever seen before, which was unsurprising because that was the _point_: uniformity. This was what marked her as what she was pretending to be, what the world would see her as from here on out, regardless of the words that spouted from her lips.

This little piece of attire would speak louder than she ever could. All she could hope for the future was that the sum of her actions would speak louder than the cloak.

'_This is for you guys, Naruto, shishou_," she thought, mind's eye flashing images of the two most important—and now, deceased—people in her life. With their faces in mind, she laid the robe back on the bed to unzip it. Once the task was completed she lifted it, glancing at it briefly as she quickly slipped it on before she could hesitate any longer.

She zipped it up and stood before the mirror, scrutinizing her appearance in a way she hadn't since before her first chunin exam. She still had the same pink hair and green eyes but if she were honest with herself, she didn't recognize the woman before her at all: she held the same exact features as she but they were different somehow, eyes and expression void of emotion, the lines of her face seeming more hardened than the Sakura she remembered. This was not the Sakura of Konoha, apprentice of Tsunade and member of Team Seven. No, this was the Sakura who had lost her home, her mentor, her _brother_. This was Sakura, nukenin of Konohagakure no Sato, _Akatsuki_.

The eyes of the stranger before her shifted strangely, filling with sorrow: the Sakura of before was dead, along with her blond teammate, along with her mentor and their ideals, all yanked from her and the citizens of Konoha with one underhanded command from who was supposed to keep the village's best interest in mind.

She turned from the mirror, unable to look at her reflection any longer—hew new visage made her feel physically ill. If there was to be one positive thing that looking at this new person in the mirror did for her, it was to renew her sense of determination the Akatsuki _would_ fall. No matter how long it took, she would see to it herself if no one else would.

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Hope you've enjoyed the chapter, and don't forget to review. :)


	4. Chapter 4

Holy crapcakes, Batman, it's been a month since I last updated! I can't tell you guys how sorry I am that it's been so long, but this past month has been _insane_ as far as school goes. I had four papers (each at least three pages apiece) due within a week and I've been taking tests and I really probably shouldn't have even done this, but it's been so long and I felt horrible about it, so instead of extra studying for my final tomorrow, I decided I would throw you guys a bone. Or a chapter, you know, whichever.

So it's definitely almost two in the morning and I just finished this, so if there are any typos you come across, _please_ let me know.

As for the (few) people that reviewed the last chapter and the people that have put this on alert and added it as a favorite, _thanks so much_! I can't tell you how much it means to me. :)

I'm going to stop rambling and let you guys (finally) get to reading this. Enjoy!

* * *

Sakura was awake before dawn the next day in preparation to set off in search of her Akatsuki ring. She had been instructed the night before by Itachi to meet him in the common room with her things, ready to report to Leader-sama by six in the morning. Ever the punctual kunoichi, despite the fact that she was _still_ hard-pressed not to punch the man in the face, she entered the room at a quarter till, unsurprised to see that Itachi had beaten her there, sitting at the lone table in the sparse room and sipping on a cup of tea.

She ignored the part of her consciousness that pointed out just how bizarre it was to see an S-class criminal sitting and drinking tea so nonchalantly and took the seat opposite him and poured a cup for herself, intent on enjoying what she knew would likely be the only downtime she would get for days. It was a two day trip to Oto—which was where she assumed the ring to be—and if Itachi was a slave driver on the training field, she was loathe to see what he was like in a real-life scenario.

They both finished their beverages with minutes to spare and she watched impassively as he rinsed their dishes before setting them aside to dry. She stood as he turned and wordlessly followed him as he left the room and began the trek upward to the leader's quarters.

She knew she had no right to complain about her partner after having met a few of her other fellow Akatsuki—like Zetsu, a creepy two-toned plantlike shinobi who seemed to possess split personalities to go with his dual coloring; just the thought of him sent shivers down her spine—but she wondered how long she would manage to retain what was left of her sanity in Itachi's ever-silent presence. It seemed he had no intention of breaking that silence and she didn't want to seem annoying—as his otouto had so eloquently put it years before—so she suffered in silence, wondering if he would always be so muted.

The trip upward seemed much shorter than her first and before she knew it, they were stepping into the dimly lit room where she had initially met the Rinnegan user—Pein, Itachi had informed her. He was sat behind the desk much like he had been during their first encounter, and she couldn't help but be jealous of the fact that he could look so awake at six in the morning. That wasn't to say that she _wasn't_ awake, but she knew that she probably looked as though she still had one leg in the bed.

She stood in front of the desk to Itachi's left and looked on at the red-headed man, awaiting instruction.

He first turned his gaze to her and she had the distinct notion that he was scrutinizing her appearance. "It seems that Akatsuki's robes suit you, Haruno-san."

"Please, call me Sakura." She murmured in response before inclining her head in acknowledgment of his statement. "And thank you, Leader-sama."

She felt equally awkward about two things: the first being the thought that Akatsuki robes could look good on anyone—especially herself—and the second being that it felt wrong to address anyone other than Tsunade as her leader. The days for her to entertain these thoughts with any amount of seriousness were lost to her forever, however. As it was, her retribution against them would come in time.

"You are welcome, Sakura." He responded and she immediately sensed the change in his demeanor as he switched from pleasantries to business. "Sakura, you already know the general location of the hideout, considering that is where you were at the time of the incident with Danzo's subordinate."

Her eyes widened at his statement and it was hard for her to wrap her mind around the fact that the man before her knew so much about her last mission as a Konoha kunoichi, thought it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise: the man _was_ the leader of the most successful terrorist organization the known world had ever seen—he must have spies everywhere.

He smirked faintly before continuing. "You will be going to Kusa. However, once you locate the base, I must warn the both of you that the chance of the ring being anywhere but on or near Orochimaru's person is unlikely. Do what you must to retrieve it. Itachi, avoid confrontation with your brother at any cost, even if it means taking his life."

Itachi nodded in acknowledgement of the order but did not speak. Sakura risked a glance at the Uchiha, but his face told her nothing of the thoughts on his mind, so her gaze was quickly averted forward once again.

"Should any problems arise, regroup at the base on the border, but report back to me within the week," he paused, shifting back to focus on her. "Hopefully the next time I see you, you will be a full-fledged member of Akatsuki."

She smiled minutely, though there was no emotion behind the gesture, just in time for him to dismiss them. Itachi turned and exited the room, Sakura trailing behind him. It seemed she would be confronting Orochimaru long before she wanted to and with him, possibly her old teammate as well. 

* * *

Dropping from the canopy, Sakura breathed a relieved sigh. Going from Amegakure to Kusa didn't seem like a long distance when one looked at it on a map, but traveling at near inhuman speeds tended to wear on a person. The speed at which Itachi traveled shouldn't have surprised her with his ANBU background, but it reminded her of her run-ins with ROOT. It didn't make her feel any less drained, regardless.

They were set to camp in what amounted to a decent-sized clearing between a grouping of trees, surrounded on all sides by the wilderness with just enough room for two people to set camp with a fire. Itachi was nothing if not sufficient, it seemed. They wordlessly gathered firewood, Sakura watching as he arranged and lit a fire using a small fire jutsu before he began to cook what would amount to two small servings of rice. It was around the time it started steaming that she couldn't hold her silence any longer.

"I can't take this anymore." She spoke harshly, the frustration evident in her voice as she looked at him from across the fire. "If I have to sit in silence any longer I'm going to scream just to hear the noise."

"I'm impressed." He spoke, though he certainly didn't _sound_ impressed, and he looked quite the opposite of the emotion he claimed to feel.

"Any why is that?" She asked, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest. She was beginning to feel as though he knew what she was going to do before she did, like she was a book laid open for him to read—she needed to file that tidbit away and work on masking her emotions; she'd never survive the Akatsuki if she didn't.

"I expected you to crack long before you did. You were teammate to the kyuubi, after all." He responded, lips quirking, and it took all she had not to leap over the fire and smack the smirk from his face.

'_Naruto, his name was _Naruto,' she wanted to yell as she shook him until his eyes rolled into the back of his head. She saw through his attempt to anger her however, instead rolling her eyes and choosing not to speak, face deadpan.

"We should discuss the mission." He said after seeing that she wouldn't rise to the bait.

She nodded, all business once more after the mission was mentioned. She could talk business, even with patronizing assholes like Uchiha Itachi. "I can't say for sure exactly where the base is, but it's at least twenty minutes north of where the Tenchi Bridge used to span." She noted the raised eyebrow he directed her way and elaborated. "It was destroyed when Naruto lost control of the kyuubi after Orochimaru mentioned Sasuke."

The lack of honorific left the name feeling unfinished on her lips, but she wasn't sure how she felt for the younger Uchiha anymore. She wanted to believe that she still loved him, but it had been three years since she'd seem him last and discounting the details of how he'd left Konoha—left _her _—so _much_ had happened since then. It was hard to say how she felt about most anything anymore.

He nodded, satisfied with her explanation. "We'll travel along the river; I will know the location once we arrive."

She bowed her head in agreement and proceeded to stare at the forest floor, not noticing the bowl he held out for her. Only once he had spoken her name did she bother to look up. She took the bowl and murmured her thanks before digging in to the simple meal.

It was quiet once more as they ate, though the silence was not nearly as awkward as it had been before. Once finished, her gaze rose to meet his across the fire. "What will we do once we find the base?"

"Get in, find the ring, and get out." He responded simply.

She scoffed at him. "You think it'll be that easy? It's Orochimaru for kami's sake."

"It is of no concern." He spoke, his tone leaving no room for argument.

She huffed in irritation, ignoring the unspoken warning. "What happens if Sasuke shows up? He'll go straight for you and I'm confident in my abilities, but I'm not sure I can take Kabuto by myself."

"You took down an Akatsuki and singlehandedly killed an entire team of ANBU ROOT, yet you cannot handle one fellow medic nin by yourself?" He asked, his tone implying that he was beginning to question her intelligence.

"I had help with Sasori and—I killed all three of them?" She asked, the disbelief clear in her voice.

"The woman was hanging on by a thread when I crossed her path. It seems that Danzo does not see fit to train any of his agents in the healing arts." He answered as he stood. "It's of no consequence. I will be back."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he was gone before she'd managed to find her voice. She dropped her posture, cursing all Uchiha's mentally: they were awfully rude.

* * *

Getting into the base was easier than Sakura had ever imagined it would be: Itachi had known the jutsu to activate in order to gain entrance—whether by stupidity or arrogance on the snake sannin's part, she didn't know. Upon entering, she had expected them to split up to cover more ground, but Sakura found herself staring at Itachi as he watched her, a smirk on his face.

She instinctively knew that she would end up regretting the question but jumped in headfirst, face expressionless. "What?"

"Finesse can get you much further than brute strength. The first example that comes to mind is your performance following the extraction of the Ichibi." Her face turned red—she couldn't decide whether it was from embarrassment or anger—and she turned her head to the side, hard-pressed not to act like a petulant child. It was a tough battle to win though, for it seemed that he brought out the worst in her.

After a moment of silence, he realized that no response would be forthcoming before suggesting that they split up like she'd expected. Soon, Sakura found herself wandering around in the pits of the snake den, becoming increasingly concerned at the distinct lack of … _anything_. There were no people, only corridor after candle-lit corridor of the _same_ doors with the _same_ room behind each one.

She was beginning to get the feeling that she was lost in a never-ending maze when she started to turn down another corridor and immediately ran into something, her nose being smashed into—was that _skin_?

She jumped back, embarrassed by her lack of attention because of the paranoid that held her in its grasp. She leveled the person before her with a steady gaze before taking an involuntary step back in shock.

Her stomach jumped to her throat as her heartbeat doubled its pace, laying eyes on the person that had been at the focus of her last mission in Konoha. The thought made her chest ache, wishing that Naruto had been with her to see him again, to make sure that he was well and in one piece. Just knowing that he was still alive made the world feel a little less lonely, but how would he react? Trepidation replaced the elation of finally knowing that he was safe, however relative the term was in relation to Orochimaru.

"Sasuke-kun." She greeted, the suffix slipping past her lips out of habit. She marveled at her ability to keep the shake from her voice—on top of worrying over his reaction, he was the first to see her in the cloth of her new 'allegiance.'

He stood before her, stone faced, watching with an expression of detached disinterest, as though she were mud that had dried to the bottom of his sandals. Even cloaked in Akatsuki's garb, it seemed that she would never make him see her as anything other than an obnoxious admirer. Only when she didn't move to give explanation as to why she stood before him did he speak, "Why are you here?"

As with her, the person he had been in Konoha was dead, replaced by a hardened version, and she took a brief moment to lament the loss of both before leveling her stare to his fearlessly—his Sharingan had activated somewhere during the timeline of events, though of when she wasn't sure. "How are you, Sasuke?"

"What do you want?" He demanded and the only difference in his expression was the spark of impatience that flared in his eyes as he ignored her query.

She watched his hand grasp the grip of his blade and as she took another step back—this one completely voluntary—her eyes widened. "I don't want to fight."

"You're here for Orochimaru's ring." He stated, tone flat.

"I am, but I don't want to fight you."

"You're so weak, Sakura."

Hurt, pain, frustration, anger—all of these emotions flashed through her and her fist clenched of its own volition. She would ignore it, though, as it had been so long since she'd seen him last. They were virtual strangers to each other now, so the least she owed him was courtesy, right? "We missed you, Sasuke."

His jaw clenched for a moment but the display was gone in a flash, replaced by only emptiness. "Why didn't you spend that time training instead? Pathetic."

Her frustration got the best of her, eyes turning furious and burning like an emerald flame. He _understood_ fury, so she would speak his language for a minute. "Pathetic enough to join the Akatsuki? _Weak_ enough to _kill_ an Akatsuki? You know _nothing_ of me and the deeds I've done in your absence, Sasuke, so don't you _dare_ patronize me!"

"You'll always be weak, Sakura."

"Why?" She asked, the sound coming out more like a yell than she'd intended it to, echoing back a few times in the empty stone corridors. "Why will I _never_ be good enough?"

He seemed to find a great amount of amusement in her frustration, a condescending smirk gracing his otherwise blank visage. However, other than this, he did nothing to supply her with the answer she sought.

She wasn't exactly sure why—maybe it was the frustration of knowing that Sasuke would always see her as a nuisance, as something below him, or it could have been to try to take out her frustrations on the only Uchiha she had a chance of hitting—but she found herself streaking forward in a manner reminiscent of the ones Naruto used in battle, yelling the whole way, kunai at the ready.

He blocked effortlessly, the chokuto holding her kunai at a fair distance with barely a flick of his wrist. It was as his blade maneuvered to push her back a fair distance that he spoke. "That's why you'll never be good enough, Sakura. You're as pathetic as Naruto."

The jab at their fallen teammate made something within her snap, all sense lost to her. Chakra poured to her fist and as of that moment, she didn't care about the mission, she didn't care about Akatsuki—all she cared about was pummeling Sasuke into a bloody pulp for the words he'd spoken. He didn't know how hard Naruto had trained to bring his ungrateful ass back to Konoha, didn't know the fear of having the Akatsuki trying to capture him at every turn. He most especially didn't know that Naruto was dead.

She took a deep breath to try to calm the fire raging within her veins, but it did nothing to dampen the blaze. She began walking toward him, each step bringing about a new action: her fist clenching until she was sure her palms were bleeding from the pressure of her nails biting into the flesh, chakra beginning to concentrate to her hands, making the sleeves of her cloak glow eerily, the floors lighting under her, her jaw clenched.

It culminated when she stood toe-to-toe with the man, looking up into his face, her expression a study in madness; he continued to watch her with disinterest, but it was coupled with a cautious glean in his eyes, his hand holding tight to the grip of his blade, all these signs pointing her to believe he had no idea what she was about to do next—which made two of them.

The chakra faded from her palms, hand—dripping with blood from her previously clenched fists—slowly coming up as if to caress the side of his face. She watched her own actions with a sort of morbid curiosity, not sure herself what was about to happen. He too was watching, though as time passed, his gaze became more wary, unsure of what had changed in her.

At the very last possible second, the chakra from before flared back to life and her hand moved with lightning quick speed, the power behind the hit snapping his face to the side, the sound echoing loudly throughout the corridors around them.

She watched as the tomoe of his crimson dojutsu began to spin, horrified—yet strangely satisfied—at her own actions. His face slowly began to twist back in her direction and she _knew_ that he was going to retaliate in the worse way possible. Halfway through turning back to her, however, he stopped, eyes focusing on something behind her.

A quick glance behind her informed her of Itachi's presence and it would have been a lie if she'd said she wasn't relieved to see him—in face, she might just have kissed him had it not been for the situation. She took a step back from Sasuke, who was thoroughly distracted from her presence the moment his brother's had become known, and looked to her partner for direction.

"Sakura, go." He spoke in response to her questioning look, eyes never straying from his brother's—it seemed as though they were already in the midst of a genjutsu battle, though it seemed like Itachi wasn't being strained by the conflict considering that he was still talking; not that the fact surprised her in the least, he was a master at his craft.

She nodded and took off like a shot past Sasuke, not wanting to take the chance of him coming from the induced reality and attacking her, intent on putting some distance between herself and the quarreling brothers.

All of the halls looked the same; she'd noticed it before, but only once she was once again left alone with her thoughts—revolving around Sasuke and how she was _glad_ that she'd slapped him—did it bother her. After twenty minutes of more twists and turns than she could keep up with, she began to lose her patience. Another five passed before she dropped all semblance of maintaining her calm and loosed her hold on her chakra, allowing it to spread momentarily to try to locate other presences in the underground lair.

It took nearly a minute, but she finally located Orochimaru before reestablishing the cloak on her chakra and continuing on, finally having some idea as to where she was going. She'd also felt Kabuto's signature—it seemed that he was on the other end of the base, a level lower in the ground than she and Orochimaru were. Hopefully he was too occupied to check up on his master for time enough for her to find the ring.

As she walked in the direction she knew the snake sannin lay, she wondered what was happening between Itachi and Sasuke. She knew that Pein had told him to kill his brother if need be and she wondered at the status of their battle. Would Itachi actually kill his otouto?

She turned a corner at the next junction and stopped dead in her tracks, spotting someone up the hall from where she stood.

The dim flickering of the candles that lined the walls glinted off of spectacles and a foreboding smirk graced his lips. "Hello, Sakura-chan, what a surprise it is to see you again."

* * *

Don't forget to review! It makes the drive to post more come alive. :D


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, so I'm going to try something a little different this time: instead of author's notes at the beginning, I'm going to try it at the end. Just a head's up on. :)

As always, if you find any grammatical errors (I try really hard to make sure there aren't, but sometimes these things happen), please let me know?

* * *

Sakura immediately took a step back, putting more distance between her and the silver-haired medic. Her retreat wasn't made entirely out of fear of the man—he'd managed to give Tsunade a run for her money once before so she dare not underestimate her opponent—but also out of anger toward the traitor to her village. She still had trouble reconciling the animosity she felt over his betrayal at her first chunin exam, never mind the fact that he was partly at fault for her home as she knew it being destroyed and the subsequent sequence of events that followed, leading up to where she currently was.

The smirk on Kabuto's face seemed to grow at the sight of her step backward. "You've changed quite a bit in the weeks since we saw each other last. You've made quite a drastic switch in loyalties, if I may say so."

Her fist clenched beneath her cloak at the remark, but she gave no outward sign that she'd been affected by his statement in the least.

"You're here for Orochimaru-sama's ring, aren't you?" His smirk turned into a knowing smile even without waiting for an answer from her, but the glare of candlelight off of his spectacles added a more ominous aura to the gesture. "It's a shame that we're on opposing sides now, Sakura-chan. I really liked you."

His attack came so quickly that there was only a millisecond to spare when it came to pulling a kunai from the folds of her cloak to defend herself. As it was, holding his blade away at bay was a chore—what made it worse was knowing that he was going easy on her, which made her all the more determined to pummel his ass before their encounter was over. She wasn't above using dirty tactics to make the situation take the path that she wanted, either.

"I didn't choose the side I was on; your precious Orochimaru-sama took it upon himself to decide my loyalties for me." She spat the name, focusing chakra to her arms and shoving him backwards. He slid to a stop some three meters in front of her, none of his equilibrium lost for all of the strength behind her push.

"Oh, Sakura-chan," he spoke, his tone ripe with condescension as his head shook slowly from side to side, "You're supposedly so skilled at genjutsu and yet you couldn't see through that little mirage, made by what amounts to a newly minted chunin? Of course, your team captain didn't suspect a thing either, and he was an ANBU captain, but I expected more out of you."

She only stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief. Genjutsu?

He must have seen some of her confusion register in her expression because his mouth twisted into a disparaging smile. "The coup didn't happen until you and Naruto-kun were well out of Fire country. Your team captain was apprehended before he managed to get word to the Godaime. Konoha never saw the attack coming."

Her heart twisted in her chest and she felt the sudden urge to be physically ill, images of destruction flashing through her mind's eye. She felt ashamed at having not seen past her shock during that moment to see what was really going on, but shook herself mentally after only a moment, reminding herself that Kabuto was a master of manipulation. It would be impossible to discern whether or not he was telling the truth or simply telling tales in order to distract her from her current mission.

She refused to be thrown off. Regardless of when the coup had happened, she had managed to fail her village either way and _this_ was her mission now—part of her path to redemption. She needed to get that ring from the snake's grasp at all cost.

She felt certain that Kabuto was expecting her to bum-rush him like Naruto would, fists flying, but she needed to come up with a solid plan of action before engaging him in battle. She knew that he was quick, but all of the insane running she'd been doing lately and her 'training' with Itachi had increased both her stamina and her speed if not a little. She also knew without a doubt that her taijutsu was at the very least on par with his. She could only hope that those things alone were enough to level the playing field.

Itachi had made it clear to her that her chakra-enhanced punches had no room in this mission, but a well-aimed hit wouldn't knock down any walls…

A strategy began to take shape.

Her expression crumpled to one of profound distress and the candlelight only served to highlight the tears that glimmered in her eyes. She threw her hands away from her body in a frustrated gesture and leveled him with a look that screamed that she was in pain, if only emotionally. "I never wanted any of this. Do you think I'm strong enough to deal with Akatsuki? I'm left with nowhere to go after the coup and they all but bully me into joining them and now I'm here and…"

She sobbed, her face already a horrible mess of tears. "I just want to go home." She spoke pitifully, gaze shifting to the ground.

In the periphery of her vision, she saw his expression lose a bit of its edge, but she knew that he didn't trust her. She could understand that line of thought perfectly because there was no way in hell she would ever trust him, either.

When he spoke, his voice was as soft as it could be when speaking to an enemy. "Sakura-chan, you can never go home. The Konoha that you knew and loved is gone now."

She nodded, sniffling a bit. He was right about that much. After a particularly pathetic whimper, his gaze softened to all but completely letting his guard down.

His voice gentle, he asked, "What do you want to do, Sakura-chan?"

"I… I just…" the kunai held in her grip clattered to the ground, her knees following shortly after. She buried her face in her hands, shoulders heaving as she cried. Her tears weren't a lie—she really and truly was crying for all of the awful things that had happened lately—but the pretense under which she had broken down was.

She felt him hesitate before taking a step in her direction; he paused, and then another step. He continued moving slowly toward her in this fashion until he was within arm's reach of her.

Pulling her head from her hands, she looked up at his standing form and she could only imagine what a pitiful sight she must be. She cringed mentally at herself for opting to play the weak and pathetic little girl, but she wanted this over as quickly and efficiently as possible; if using the weaknesses Kabuto had once known from her was the way to get it over with, she would continue to use that against him—it seemed as though it was working just fine, at any rate.

He crouched down on the balls of his feet before her, elbows resting on his knees, hands held out in a wide gesture. He repeated softly, "What do you want, Sakura-chan?"

Faster than she believed herself capable of, the kunai that had been on the ground was in her hand and she brought it up, blade facing inward, before proceeding to stab toward the side of his throat. His hand shot up and grasped her wrist just as the blade had broken the skin and she watched in rapt fascination as a drop of blood beaded around the tip of the kunai before succumbing to gravity and falling down his neck in a tiny rivulet.

The grin that had been on Kabuto's face earlier was back, but this time it held amusement as well. "Naughty, Sakura-chan, but you were too hasty."

She watched the kunai fall from her grip and heard it hit the floor before realizing belatedly that she could not feel her right hand or forearm any longer: he had paralyzed it. Yanking the now-useless appendage from his grip, she scrambled back and quickly to her feet.

Kabuto was the sort of medic nin that another medic loathed to cross on the battlefield: he was ruthless and had no scruples when it came to doing whatever was necessary to emerge from his encounters as victor. It was glaringly obvious that he didn't follow any sort of code of ethics she'd ever heard of, given the fact that he experimented on people on a regular basis and worse—he did so guiltlessly.

If she planned on making it out of this alive she would need to tread carefully. He'd already rendered her right arm useless for an indeterminate amount of time, so she needed to keep as much distance as possible between the two of them until the feeling came back. If he got too close and managed to get a hit in on her before the limb was of use to her once again, she would be powerless to heal any injuries she sustained.

His grin turned malicious as he streaked forward, chakra scalpels blazing, the blue glow making the corridor brighten in his wake. With her left arm, she pulled a kunai to block but that left her entire right side open to attack and as her blade deflected his, her right leg came up to defend, kicking him in the side, having only just missed being wounded by the chakra that enveloped his left hand.

He dodged for the most part, but his movement only served to lessen the severity of the blow in the end. He slammed into the wall to her left, the hard stone cracking under his weight before he fell to the ground, body sagging against the floor.

She heard a maddened laugh before his eyes rose to meet hers, "You've gotten _much_ stronger, Sakura-chan, but you're still not nearly as strong as your mentor."

He pulled himself to his feet easily, looking more like he was getting out of bed from a refreshing nap than like he'd just been hit as hard as she knew she'd hit him. She wondered offhand if the reason why was because of the jutsu he used that began regenerating cells before they were damaged or if the hit had really just not been enough to faze him. She hadn't had the time to put chakra behind the hit, so either option was plausible.

She glanced down momentarily, realizing that she had felt the fabric of her cloak brushing against her hand. There was only the top of her hand and a bit of her palm that she could feel, but that meant the feeling was beginning to return. She estimated another couple of minutes, three at the most, before she had full control of her body once again. At any rate, she planned to be far past this point by the time the feeling had returned, anyway. All she needed to do now was stall him for a little while longer.

Her eyes darted from him to the darkened hallway behind him, knowing her true objective lay somewhere in that direction. Kabuto chuckled, knowing here she had been looking. "You won't be getting past me any time soon, Sakura-chan, so don't start losing your focus just yet."

She took a cautious step away from him, eyes watching his every twitch as her mind repeated like a broken record for her to keep her distance, to not lose track of him. He was dangerous to her now more than usual and while she wasn't completely helpless, she was _incredibly_ vulnerable.

He took a step toward her and had to throw his arm out to steady himself against the wall to his right almost immediately after moving. He shook his head minutely, murmuring to himself. His eyes locked with hers and he smiled, though it wasn't at all friendly. "Looks like you got me better than I originally thought. I'm impressed."

She felt a sense of déjà vu wash over her, remembering early that day when Itachi had spoken nearly the same words and the irony in how he hadn't looked impressed. Kabuto's expression was much the same—in fact, he looked _pissed_. Her finger twitched as he took another step forward and she felt the urge to smirk behind the collar of her cloak, opting to take another step backward instead.

He continued advancing on her, smirk turning into a full-blown grin as her back hit the wall where the hallway teed behind her, allowing him to continue advancing on her with nowhere for her to go short of running away. Her eyes noted his sluggish movements, the drug on the tip of her kunai finally beginning to take effect on him. Truth be told, she couldn't believe her gamble had actually worked, but she supposed there was something to be said for being underestimated by one's opponent.

She flexed her right hand, testing whether or not she had feeling throughout the entire limb yet. Kabuto continued advancing on her, his sleep slowing incrementally as he went—though she doubted that he had noticed it yet—with chakra scalpels once again covering his hands in a blue glow.

A triumphant look took over her face as she charged chakra to her now-working fist. She reared the appendage back as his arm rose into the air behind him, preparing to make a slashing motion downward, and propelled her fist forward where it landed dead center in the middle of his chest before he had managed to get halfway through his downswing. The beryl light from his hands flickered from existence as he sailed backward, body rolling to a stop ten meters from where he had started.

She walked forward, coming to a stop nearly a meter away from him, a syringe making an appearance from the folds of her cloak as she looked down at his battered form. She crouched down on the balls of her feet, pulling the cap from the syringe with her teeth and injected the substance into his neck before he could so much as twitch. She stood quickly after the syringe had been removed from the fallen medic's neck, the now-empty needle being capped once more before disappearing back into her cloak. Once through, she took a moment to savor her victory.

The drug on her kunai had been a sedative, incredibly effective in even the smallest of doses. It was hardly detectable in the bloodstream to even the best of medics—Tsunade included—which meant that it took longer to filter out of the person's system, as even the liver had trouble reconciling that it was a foreign substance. It had still been in its testing phase back in Konoha and had never been tested on anything larger than rats, but she supposed Kabuto wouldn't have been averse to a little … live experiment.

The concoction in the syringe, on the other hand, had been shown to her while she was gearing up for her current mission. The drug was designed to drain the chakra from the one exposed to it, leaving their chakra network absolutely useless for at twenty-four hours, most times even longer than that. She knew that the drug had more than likely been used to sedate jinchuriki and though the thought had made her stomach turn, she was glad she'd had the foresight to pick one up.

Her gaze dropped to Kabuto for a moment before she stepped around him victoriously and continued on in search of her ring. Itachi had been right: with a little planning, she _had_ taken down the medic.

* * *

Once she found the spot where she and Itachi were to meet, she stopped down the hall from where Orochimaru's quarters were located. Itachi had given her express orders that she was _not_ to try to take the snake sannin on her own, not that she'd have ever been possessed to try such a crazy thing anyway.

It wasn't to say that she wasn't capable of it—or at least, wouldn't be some time in the near to distant future—but Orochimaru just bothered her in a way she didn't think she'd ever be able to put into words. It might have been the role he played in tearing her genin team apart at the seams, but she knew that there was more to it than that—there had been even before he'd took it upon himself to help destroy her former home.

Fleetingly she wondered about how Sasuke had gotten over the same fear of the snake, for she had seen just how terrified he had been at the chunin exam. Then again, Sasuke was easily manipulated and would do anything to acquire the power to kill his brother, no matter the cost—and fear would be one of the first things he'd want to conquer in his misled journey.

That epiphany led her to wonder where Itachi was. Though it sickened her to consider the prospect, she didn't imagine he would have that tough of a time eliminating Sasuke if he deemed it necessary, so what was keeping him? In the short period of time she had known him, he was always early, showing up long before she did.

Just as her train of thought had finished, Itachi appeared before her, looking none the worse for wear. She pushed away the small amount of concern she felt for her former teammate and leveled him with a look that told him she was awaiting further instruction. She might be prideful, but she wouldn't dare mistake the fact that he was the leader in their partnership.

"I will go in and you will wait for me to call for you." She opened her mouth to protest but his eyebrow rose, her mouth shutting promptly in response. "Once inside, search quickly. When you have the ring, touch my arm and we will go. Time is of the essence, Sakura."

She nodded, not missing that he had spoken her name without any sort of honorific. She filed that away to ponder later, mindful of the task at hand. He gave a curt nod to acknowledge her response before he turned and headed down the dim corridor in the direction she knew Orochimaru's quarters were.

She scrutinized his receding form from where she stood, looking for any sort of indication that he had been injured in his confrontation with Sasuke. She noticed that he was slightly favoring his right side, though it was hardly noticeable at all; perhaps had had been given a run for his money, if Sasuke had been able to get any sort of hit on him. Itachi was incredibly fast, of that there was no doubt, but he was mainly a long-range genjutsu user: his body wasn't properly trained to withstand significant blows—and even with the aid of chakra she had run into trouble overpowering the younger Uchiha's strength.

Minutes passed with no noise coming from the direction of the room, and Sakura was beginning to wonder if he would call for her help at all. Another minute followed after that thought before she finally heard his voice, albeit strained, call her name.

She took off like a shot, moving into the room as quickly as possible. The scene she came upon was one she would imagine of two genjutsu masters: Orochimaru lay in his bed, blankets shielding the lower half of his deteriorating form from view, eyes locked with Itachi's blood-red dojutsu that was elevated to its highest form. Not wanting to dwell on the scene, her eyes shifted from the two men before her to survey the layout of the room for spots the ring could be hidden in, which she quickly identified as a desk to the side of the room that had one drawer, a small dresser beside the bed with three more, and as a last resort, on Orochimaru's person.

Her first stop was the desk: she pulled open the drawer and rummaged around, stopping to examine a few rings that looked like they could possibly be the one that she was after. Upon further inspection, none of them turned out to be anything more than useless trinkets, though some of them did look expensive—and like women's rings. Unsuccessful in her first attempt, she moved on to the dresser next, starting at the bottom and intending to work her way up to the top.

The bottom drawer was full of nothing but scrolls, down to the very last nook and cranny. She would have searched for a false bottom, but she could tell by the sheer amount of tome in the drawer alone that there was none. Leaving the drawer open in favor of examining the next, she pulled the knob and immediately began shuffling through the middle—there were stray kunai and shuriken, among other types of small weapons, but no jewelry to be seen. The top was filled with more scrolls, though there were a scant few in this drawer. After a check to make sure that there was no false bottom on this drawer, she realized that the room itself was a bust for finding the ring.

Looking at Itachi, she huffed a frustrated breath, the air lifting her hair away from her face for a second as her gaze shifted to the third occupant of the room. She studied his appearance more thoroughly for a moment before seeing her prize: it was lying in the palm of his hand, threaded through a broken necklace chain that fell dangling from his fingers.

Moving closer to the snake sannin, her eyes turned back to Itachi. He didn't look as though he was terribly taxed, but she could see the beginnings of sweat lining his brow. He was making the genjutsu last longer to give her the time to find the ring. She might not particularly like him, but she could think of worse people in Akatsuki to have been partnered with.

Turning back to her task, she moved in toward Orochimaru's sickly white hand, her own reaching slowly to grasp at the drooping chain before gradually drawing it upward. She knew the mechanics of genjutsu well, but she didn't know how high the level of awareness was for two as powerful as they and didn't dare turn the snake's attention on her. Chain finally held taut, she gave a gentle tug and—amazingly—the ring slipped loose of his fingers.

Smiling at the small victory after all of the other blunders that had taken place during their mission into the snake's den, she stood to walk to Itachi but was forced to shunshin as she noticed Sasuke standing behind the man, chokuto raised for the kill. She pocketed the ring as she moved, pulling a kunai in each hand and moving quickly to block the strike, sparks showering from the friction of steel on steel. Despite the block, she was knocked off-kilter by the force Sasuke had put behind the blow, losing her balance for the slightest of moments that sent her reeling backward into Itachi.

The amount of pure rage and betrayal held in her childhood crush's eyes was more emotion than she had seen in him through the course of the years she'd known him compounded. In that moment, she knew that he would never hold any sort of feelings for her other than animosity, if he had ever shown the dexterity to display another more to her before.

"Your choice to shield the murderer of my clan from my blade makes you an accomplice after the fact, and as far as I'm concerned you are as much to blame as he is. I _will_ kill you for that, _Sakura_." The blade he held to her kunai began chirping with the energy of Chidori and it barely registered in her mind that she was about to die as she felt arms encircle her waist, feeling movement that she hazily presumed to be hand seals against her stomach.

The whole scene disappeared in front of her eyes just as she felt the shock of electricity begin to tear through her body; she wasn't sure if it was the transportation jutsu that made her vision go black or if she had just passed out again.

* * *

Whoo for trying new things, and _yikes_ do I feel like there's a lot of action in this chapter. I'm still a little iffy on my action scenes but they seem to work okay and you guys don't complain so... well, yeah. Complain if you don't like it? Lol.

I'm a little late posting this chapter, but I'm not nearly as late as I thought I was. I was out of town for 16 days for a couple friend's of mine's college graduations (it was only supposed to be around a week, funny how those things work out...) and since I've been back I've done nothing but... well, I haven't really done anything to be quite honest. We had a storm the other night that knocked out the power for about 15 hours (overnight, nonetheless) and since I've got a hard copy of my roughs printed out, I figured that it was about time that I finally get around to editing this chapter to post. Reading/editing by candlelight is, by the way, not nearly as fun or endearing as it sounds. I don't suggest doing it unless there's nothing better to do, and make sure you've got good vision to boot.

Okay, so... chapter. Like I said before, I'm still a little unsure about my action scenes, but overall I think this chapter is pretty decent. I had a few problems with continuity but other than that, I can't say there's really anything that irritates me about the chapter.

Stepping back, though; there was a review a few chapters back that said something along the lines of Pein and how it didn't seem like he would act that way in order to get Sakura to join the Akatsuki and I don't necessarily disagree, but here's the way that I look at it: it seems like Akatsuki is whatever people want to different people. To Deidara it was a platform for him to blow shit up whenever the urge arose and for most of the rest of them it's just a place where they can generally terrorize the ninja world and gain infamy for themselves and the organization as a whole. Sakura just lost her home and wasn't necessarily an antagonistic character to begin with. She's scared and looking for some place to call 'home' as it were, and it seems like the powers that be of Akatsuki would take this and run with it, hence the civility of her initial meeting with Pein. As for the Hokage thing, I also think that plays into what they think she wants-her home back. Of course, being Hokage under the Akatsuki wouldn't make the village home by any stretch of the word, but... well, I think that would be obvious to everyone.

I'm running out of things to say, so I guess this is all that's left: Review, please? I've got quite a few alerts and favorites for this story but I don't get but barely a fraction of those numbers that actually review. I'm not going to be a psycho and say 'If I don't get (x amount of) reviews by (y day), then I'm not posting the chapter until I do,' because that's just ridiculous and makes for pointless reviews, but I will say that reviews are encouragement and without encouragement, this story will probably never be finished. So... pretty please?


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (I figured I should probably start putting one of these, at least every now and then.)

* * *

Sakura came to with a gasp, eyes bursting open as she bolted into an upright position. Her hands flew to her chest, grasping it in an attempt to alleviate the sudden ache that reverberated from its center. She took rapid gulps of air, mind registering that she would start to hyperventilate soon and immediately tried to regulate her breathing. A minute passed before she'd gotten a handle on herself and it was only then that she took the time to try to figure out what the hell had just happened.

A brief flash of images through her mind's eye: a ring, Itachi, Sasuke. Then black. Was it Itachi's transportation or the jutsu that her and Sasuke's mutual teacher had taught to her vengeful former teammate? Her sight, previously littered with stars from the vertigo of suddenly sitting up, darted around her surroundings, looking for the older Uchiha. It didn't take long for her to find him; he was a few feet away, sat back on his knees, looking at her with something that, had she the chance to identify it properly, she might have called it worry, but it was gone before she managed the task.

"What happened?" She asked, palm held against her chest gingerly—she felt like she'd been stepped on by an elephant.

"You died." Was his simple response. Her eyes went wide, both shocked at the fact that she had been dead and amazed at the fact that he would state such news so bluntly.

Her mind quickly began to fill in the blank spots of what had happened: Sasuke must have electrocuted her with his Chidori and since leaving the snake's den, Itachi had been walloping on her chest in an attempt to get her heart beating again. Truth be told, she was lucky that he hadn't signed her death warrant instead of bringing her back from the brink. She formed hand signs before green chakra enveloped her right hand and she wasted no time pressing it to her chest to monitor her vitals and heal any damage. Once she was finished, her gaze settled on Itachi.

"Come here so that I can heal you." She said, motioning him over with her hand.

His head shifted from side to side in a negative fashion, but other than that, he didn't move. "I am uninjured, save your energy."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you might actually be worried about me, Uchiha. And I'll decide whether you're injured or not for myself, now get over here." Her gaze turned stern, looking much like that of her mentor. Tending to his wounds was the least she could do to thank him for saving her life; if she'd been subjected to that electricity any longer, she'd be toast—no pun intended.

"No, thank you." He insisted. She opted to say nothing, her eyebrow rising in response as her hand shot forward, index finger pointed down at the ground in front of her.

He sighed in a manner she guessed to be forlorn before standing and walking to her, easing himself to sit face-to-face with her with his legs crossed in front of him, knees bent. She completed the seals again, palm glowing green once again before placing her hand on his arm to diagnose his condition. One fractured rib, two bruised, a bruised shin and…

Her eyes were the size of dinner plates when they met his and she could tell that she had stumbled upon the reason for his insistence that he was fine. Her mouth opened to tell him what she could do for his condition but he spoke first, the words that came out of his mouth leaving her speechless.

"Do not."

"But—"

"Do _not_, Sakura. Furthermore, the other Akatsuki will never come to learn of my condition, so you would do well to keep the knowledge to yourself." He spoke sharply, both his tone and eyes—their natural shade, she noticed in complete shock—portraying that there would be no discussion of the subject and, as she studied his expression further, she noticed something more—dare she say a hint of desperation?

Her head shook roughly from side to side. "I would never." She stressed and as the words had passed her lips, she realized the truth behind them. At the very most it was because she was beginning to feel like he was becoming more of a comrade than an enemy; at the least, the knowledge could benefit her greatly should she ever want to exploit his weakness.

Their eyes met momentarily and she knew that the same thought had not slipped his mind. She tore her gaze from his and focused on her still-glowing hand awkwardly as she continued to heal his wounds. It wasn't until the light had died away that her stare met his once more. "How are your eyes?"

He seemed to hesitate, questioning whether or not to provide her with an honest answer before apparently settling whatever internal debate he was having. "They are painful."

She was surprised by his forthcoming response, but nodded regardless. "Lay flat with your head rested on my legs; it's much easier for me to work that way."

He started to move, but hesitated for a moment. "Should you be attempting this now?" He queried and she honestly didn't blame him for his reservations—he was putting the most important weapon in his entire arsenal into her care after she'd just woken scant minutes earlier from a near-death experience.

"I'm fine, but if you'd like to wait, I can heal what I didn't earlier in the meantime." She compromised, but threw her hands up as his gaze quickly shot to hers in alarm. "The injuries from the mission, I mean. Though—"

"That will be sufficient."

She huffed at being cut off once again but nodded and completed the familiar hand seals before pressing her palm to his side, green chakra radiating from it. He flinched at the proximity but didn't move away, his muscles loosening increasingly as time went on.

She didn't suppose he'd been touched very often since the Uchiha massacre and wondered idly who the last person to truly touch him outside the battlefield had been—Sasuke, bright and happy, excited to play with his aniki—or perhaps it had been his mother, smiling and unsuspecting that she would be struck down by her own flesh and blood.

Her head shook in an attempt to derail her morbid train of thought, focusing instead on mending the cracked bone and bruised flesh. As she worked, she allowed some of her chakra to linger near his lungs in order to assess the damage. His eyes watched her knowingly, but he said nothing to inform her of his thoughts on her actions.

His condition was treatable, and yet he wanted to do nothing. Left untreated, over time, the damage to his respiratory system would become increasingly severe to the point that it would eventually claim his life as his lungs would be filled with blood and no longer be able oxygenate his brain. For someone who was supposedly a genius, he clearly wasn't very smart, and she minced no words to let him know as much.

"Considering you're supposed to be a genius, you're an idiot. You must know that, right?" She questioned sardonically, eyeing him from the corner of glowing viridian orbs as she continued the healing process.

His smirk was without humor and he continued to stare blankly at the wall of their shelter as she worked. "You will not understand my reasoning now but perhaps you will some day in the distant future."

She rolled her eyes and pinned him with a look that said he was full of shit. She spoke, her voice and expression deadpan. "It's an excruciating way to die and completely unnecessary for you to go through. I'm no Shikamaru, but I see no sense in wasting away from a curable disease when there's a perfectly capable medic willing to perform the procedure."

When the words she spoke registered in her mind, her eyes widened in surprise; it was a statement that she and her friends used from time to time in conversation back in Konoha, but she was shocked and horrified that it would slip out so easily in conversation like that, especially considering present company.

She couldn't help her face from looking like that of the proverbial child caught with their hand in the cookie jar and though he seemed to have taken notice of her blunder and subsequent shock, he chose to sit in silence, instead watching the emotions play over her face.

Sakura felt like she'd been caught red-handed, like her mission had been exposed, but fought back her paranoia and subsequent panic. She had done nothing wrong, nor had she exposed herself or her mission in any way. Surely he would understand the instinct involved in a slip-up like that? She had only just joined Akatsuki and things had changed so rapidly for her to end up where she was sitting at that very moment. She struggled to put this sentiment into words, instead stumbling over her tongue at the worst possible moment. "I-I mean…"

"It gets easier with time." Itachi supposed sagely, eyes still focused on something in the distance.

She nodded dumbly in response, tempted to ask him _what_ exactly it was that got easier—the ability to survive Akatsuki or the mission?

* * *

Itachi smirked at both the double meaning of his statement and his ability to sufficiently derail the girl's train of thought. She'd all but handed him the diversion—what with her deer in headlights look and her stammering to explain the Freudian slip. He'd known exactly what she was up to since he'd watched the play of emotion over her face after waking in Akatsuki's headquarters, but every member of the Akatsuki had their own secret agenda within the organization, nor was he without his own.

In truth, the two former Konoha nin's missions were much the same, though the orders originated from completely different sets of circumstances. He suspected her mission had been of the self-appointed variety, what with all she knew about Konoha and her kyuubi container teammate. At any rate her cause was noble, albeit a bit misguided.

He was pulled from his thoughts as the glow from her hands faded, emerald eyes locking with his after a moment. "Your eyes now?"

His nod was barely discernible before he turned his body and laid flat, head rested on her crossed ankles. He knew inherently that he could trust her not to damage his vision further, though he wasn't entirely sure of why—she was so _soft_, far too naïve for the world she'd deliberately immersed herself in; it made him want to shelter her from the cruelness of the world and forcibly remove the rose-tint from her vision at the very same time. His feelings seemed to be at war in regards to the pinkette, but he supposed the parallels between her and a younger version of his otouto were to blame for the internal conflict.

Dark-lashed eyelids slipped closed to shield against the light that pained his over-sensitized eyes and Itachi felt her chakra seeping in and soothing the inflamed nerves one at a time. He heard more than saw her cringe and the accompanying hiss of sympathy for the pain she must imagine he was feeling. He knew the state of his vision was deplorable, as was the state of his respiratory system.

As the pressure in his eyes slowly began to subside, he was thankful that the conversation had been diverted from that of his prognosis. It was far too late for any of the details of his plans to be changed, most especially that one—it was the key. After long minutes in silence, her chakra receded slightly and he heard her lips part in preparation of saying something.

"Turn on your Sharingan." She muttered almost silently.

He simply couldn't help it when his right eye cracked open to look at her, eyebrow quirked in question. He realized belatedly that her eyes were closed, brow furrowed in concentration and that she could not see his questioning look. "You can heal the Sharingan?" He asked, unable to let the matter pass.

The chakra faded completely and her eyes opened, looking down so that her gaze connected with his. "Yes and no? Not really. It's—I was just starting to make progress with Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan before the… mission. He—" She huffed in frustration, eyes turning skyward as she gathered her words. "When Gaara was taken, Kakashi-sensei really overused the Mangekyo and was hospitalized because of it. Tsunade-sa—"

He watched as she registered what she was about to say and went motionless, mouth still hanging open to finish the respectful honorific. He almost couldn't keep the chuckle from slipping past his lips but managed to tamp it down before it rose to the surface. After all, it really was best to let her keep her illusions about the situation, at least for the time being.

"Tsunade was helping me with research on the Sharingan and we figured out a way to clear out a bit of the damage, but it wasn't anything more than semi-permanent. It came back, and at almost five times the original rate of deterioration." The look on her face was one of dissatisfaction, but it morphed quickly to nonchalance, her hand coming up in a manner as if to brush the whole thing off.

"I still have a copy of the research with me, so I guess I could look it over and see if there are things I might have missed. I might be able to heal it eventually, but for now all I can do is clear out that bit of damage in your Sharingan. I can soothe the inflammation in both forms, but the only damage that can be repaired is in the basic form, if that makes sense."

He nodded minutely, accepting the knowledge for what it was. She was no further in her research than the clan medics had been in theirs before the massacre, but it was impressive to know she'd gotten as far as she had on her own, and with a singular research subject that had a borrowed Sharingan to boot. As he flared his kekkei genkai to life, he wondered how long it might take her until she could fully heal the damage—with the right motivation he imagined it would only be a few years, at most.

Her jutsu flared to life and his eyes closed simultaneously; for an immeasurable amount of time, the only words spoken were those of her asking him to switch between the forms of his Sharingan and he found that he was more than willing to comply with the instructions she gave as with each passing moment, the pressure eased increasingly. Finally, he felt the soft caress of her medical chakra recede before the glow disappeared completely from the backs of his eyelids.

His eyes opened slowly and he sat upright, taking in a more distinct amount of detail without aid of the Sharingan for the first time in years. His vision wasn't near what it had been in his prime but it was a considerable difference in comparison to what he'd been seeing just hours before. Once he was through with his investigation of the surroundings he turned his gaze to her, speaking without hesitation. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me; you're just going to screw it up anyway." She responded resentfully, though he could hear a hint of pride shining through in her voice. He smirked and directed chakra to his optical nerves, coal eyes bleeding red. He felt a sharp set of knuckles hit his shoulder blade and turned his head to pin her with a stare. "See, you're already well on your way. At the very least, no Mangekyo unless it's necessary; the basic form of Sharingan won't deteriorate your eyes hardly at all, but I suppose you already knew that."

Her tone was sardonic and he cut off the flow of chakra, eyes seeping from red back to black. "I do, and I will try to do so. Where is your ring?"

"It's always business with you, isn't it?" He heard her mutter rhetorically as she turned to her pack to find the ring and he couldn't resist the huff of amusement that bubbled up from his chest. Perhaps he was in high spirits over his renewed ability to see—how much better the ability was remained relative, the point being that it was _better_—or the fact that Sakura was so thoroughly amusing, but he found that he didn't regret the action. He didn't think he'd been so amused since Sasuke was a child.

She faced him again, hand outstretched with the ring dangling from her fingers by a silver chain. He shook his head in the negative. "The ring is yours, Sakura. Put it on."

Looking sheepish, she removed the ring from the chain and glanced up at him apprehensively, as though awaiting instruction. "Your left little finger."

The ring was slipped onto her finger and he watched her expression as the stone began to glow; her face was pensive as this happened but quickly morphed into a sort of fearful fascination as her nail beds began shifting color from her skin-tone to a dark amethyst not unlike his own.

"That is just… weird." She state dumbly, gaze riveted on her fingers.

"The ring acts as a sort of… signal booster to project yourself to a location of Leader-sama's choice. The mechanics aren't of importance; just know that you should focus chakra to the ring while holding a hitsuji seal." He demonstrated, hands forming the seal.

"And the entrances to bases and all that?" She asked, hands mimicking his.

"All are the same basic concept. Try focusing; we should report to Leader-sama to let him know of our mission success." He closed his eyes, activated his dojutsu, and focused chakra to his ring. By now the projection was nearly second nature to do and so without hesitation his eyes opened and he found himself standing before Akatsuki's leader.

Pein lifted his head and silently regarded him after a moment, as though he were assessing the Uchiha's person for any sign of weakness. "Itachi, report."

"Mission success. She is attempting the projection now." He responded dully, eyes focused on something on the wall behind the redheaded man.

"Good. Did you run into any trouble with Orochimaru?" The red-head asked, leaning forward and steepling his fingers in front of his mouth as he continued to watch his subordinate.

"Nothing worthy of mention; he attempted Fushi Tensei again, but his efforts were thwarted."

Pein hummed in response, seeming satisfied with the information before he leaned back in his chair, eyes never diverting from the Uchiha's face. "And Sakura? How did she perform?"

"Her performance was satisfactory. She will become an asset to the organization with proper training." He responded. In truth, he had been surprised upon finding Yakushi Kabuto lying unconscious in one of the hideout's corridors, chakra completely blocked and looking particularly trounced. He had derided her for her lack of confidence in herself, but she had come out of the skirmish the clear victor, and unscathed as well—which was honestly more than he'd been expecting from the chunin kunoichi.

"I assume you will see to that?" Itachi had planned to nurture the young woman's skills even before the subtle command from Leader—if he were honest, he would say that he was looking forward to having the chance to see the talent he knew she possessed show through. Her genjutsu detection skills really _were_ top notch and he imagined that with a little work, she would become just as fluent in casting them—and that was only a fraction of the skillset he could equip her with.

"Hai. I will begin as soon as we've reached the base at the border." Itachi responded, none of the little amount of anticipation he held for the event showing through in his expression.

"It will have to wait for now, we've—"

He felt a shift in the air and realized that Sakura had managed complete the projection. She hadn't appeared yet, but it was only a matter of time before she materialized in the room.

* * *

Sakura concentrated chakra to the symbol on her finger that denoted her as a full-fledged Akatsuki, brow drawn together in concentration. She saw the ring's glow through her eyelids and smirked in triumph. Her eyes fluttered opened a moment later and she was faced with a scene that she knew was not truly before her.

Pein's gaze travelled from Itachi to her as soon as her normally verdant eyes had appeared. "Sakura, good. You're just in time."

'_In time for what?_' she was tempted to ask, but refrained from doing so. Rinnegan eyes shifted from her back to her partner.

"Find a proper spot to project from—it's time to extract the Nibi."

* * *

Well, guys… can I just say that it was a _great_ idea to take summer classes? And if you put _awful_ in place of great, you'll have a pretty good idea of what my experience was like. It turned out to be somewhere around thirty chapters in 'five weeks' (which seriously looked more like four when you look at a calendar) and it was all around a ton more work than I thought it would be. Couple that with the fact that about a week after I got back from being out of town for two weeks, I went back out of town again for another three weeks. –

I would continue that, but it's starting to look a lot like complaining and excuse making to me. Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I'm so very sorry that you've had to wait so long. I expect I'll start editing Chapter Seven later tonight and I'm planning to start what will be the second arc of the story pretty soon as well. All in all, things are shaping up well for this.  
I'd like to give a shout out to katzenherrin for being the best little guinea pig there is, because she encourages me to continue and translates the gobbledygook that comes out of me into something that makes a bit more sense, and also to moldycookies for the most adorably awesome beta that there ever was.

Reviews, please? While I'm feeling inspired, I'm still not feeling particularly motivated. ;)


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto

* * *

Sakura did her best to keep her eyes diverted from the woman that lay in a pool of her own blood some ten meters or so from where she stood atop the giant left little finger of the statue that held the bijuu. She was panicking, she realized almost detachedly. When she had given herself the self-imposed mission that she was currently chin-deep in, _this_ had never been a part of the equation.

She had_ never_ been so hasty before as to jump into a situation without considering every consequence. Then again, her state of mind when she'd made those decisions had been questionable, at best. '_There's no use dwelling on it_,' she told herself, '_If I'm going to hell, I may as well jump in head first._'

Though she put up a brave front, she was terrified of what was going to happen—would the actions she was made to do in the Akatsuki while she fought to bring them down ensure that she became a different person, a heartless murderer like most of the organization?

More than that, what would happen to the woman having her bijuu removed? She knew that the blonde was going to die—'_you're a horrible person, Sakura_,' her mind interjected—but would the process painful? Would she be in agony for the entire three days of the jutsu?

All of these thoughts raced through her mind as she saw the other members of Akatsuki form the seal that signified the beginning of the extraction. She copied their actions and concentrated her chakra until the tip of the finger she stood upon glowed an eerie white.

She watched, face showing none of the fascination and horror she felt, as nine serpentine formations of chakra shot from the statue's mouth and enveloped the blonde kunoichi, the doomed woman's face instantly contorting in anguish.

The jinchuriki was not quite to the point of screaming yet, but Sakura had no doubt that after a short amount of time, she would be—and once she started, Sakura knew that it was unlikely that she'd stop until the ritual was had concluded or she was dead, her bijuu ripped forcefully from her soul.

'_What have I gotten myself into?_'

* * *

Four days later found Sakura sitting on the bed of her temporary bedroom in the Kusa base, arms wrapped around legs that were drawn to her chest, blank eyes that brimmed with tears watching without seeing anything before her. She was long past the point of exhaustion, but the screams that echoed through her mind would not allow her a moment's peace—every time she closed her eyes in an attempt to rest, the woman's blonde locks grew shorter and untamable, her face transforming into the whiskered one of her fallen teammate.

She was so incredibly torn—on one hand, seeing what the Akatsuki did firsthand made her want to see her plan come to fruition that much more but on the other, didn't her having participated in the ritual make her a part of the problem that needed to be rectified?

Regardless of what others might say, she truly felt that she just might be.

She was brought from her reverie by the shifting of the mattress and her eyes immediately shifted to focus on the form of her partner. She was both alarmed and appalled that he was witnessing her during such a profound moment of weakness, so she turned her face away from him in an effort to rid herself of the evidence of her vulnerability.

He allowed her the time she needed to collect herself and waited patiently for her to finally address him; after a minute's silence, she didn't disappoint, and she was pleased to find that her voice didn't crack—nor did it waver. "Was there something you needed, Itachi-san?"

"You are not sleeping as I expected you to be," he paused, looking as concerned as Uchiha Itachi could. After a beat, he continued, "Is everything alright, Sakura?"

Her mask slipped for the briefest of moments before she responded. "I'm fine, Itachi-san."

"I think we're far past the need for honorifics, Sakura." He stated, a smirk upon his lips. "Lying doesn't become you."

She scowled in response, her previously morose train of thought abandoned in place of the rising irritation she felt for the man, if only for a moment. "I hardly think we're that well acquainted, Itachi-_san_," a small hug that might have been a laugh was heard from the man before she had the chance to continue. "What do you want?"

His face lost all traces of amusement as his gaze met hers, "It's a very dangerous game you play, Sakura, and any mistake you make could very well be your last."

Alarm bells coupled with extreme anxiety took the place of irritation and she fought to keep a horrified expression from overtaking her face. She barely managed to maintain an outward appearance of cool indifference, quirking her head to the side as her gaze steadily held his. "What do you mean, Itachi?"

"You'll find no foe in me, Sakura. Spare me the act."

She knew she had no reason to give in and trust him so swiftly, but considering what they'd been through so far, she found it improbable that he would betray her—he had never spoken words to her that he didn't mean, as it was. Shifting so that she could see him more easily, she asked the question that had been at the tip of her tongue from the very moment he had exposed his knowledge of her mission. "How did you know?"

"There aren't many things that pass my eyes unnoticed and everyone in Akatsuki has an agenda. None suspect your duplicity, but you let your emotions be known much too easily."

She nodded absently, agreeing wholeheartedly. In Konoha, her emotions had been a part of her strength, but out in the harsh world as a nukenin, it _would_ lead to her downfall. It wasn't to say that she wanted to cut herself off from her emotions completely, she just knew that she needed a better poker face if she ever hoped to survive.

Her lips parted to ask another question of him but she hesitated, her mouth closing at the last second. Would such a request be out of line?

After a minute of careful consideration, she decided that the worst thing he could do was say no—or Mangekyo her into the next century. Her voice was soft, but unwavering. "Ano… Itachi-san? Do you think… could you maybe help me with that?"

His gaze shifted to meet hers once more and he nodded. "I will." He responded and stood to leave, but was stopped as her hand shot out, grasping his wrist.

"H-How do you deal with it all?" She asked, eyes taking on their previously dull sheen and losing focus once again. He did not need to think for a moment to understand what she spoke of, but he knew of no honest way to answer her.

"I was taught to mask emotion from an early age, so I cannot give you a definite answer on how you might learn to cope." He answered, eyes staring vacantly at the wall before him.

She nodded minutely, not completely satisfied but accepting the knowledge for what it was, before speaking once more. "One last question before you go," she paused for a moment, expecting him to walk away before giving her the chance to speak like his younger brother would have. When he did not, she continued, "When I was fighting Kabuto he… said something. Did the coup really not happen until after Naruto and I were out of Fire?"

"The coup did not take place until you were in Rain country. What you saw upon your return to Konoha was a multi-layer genjutsu trap laid by an advanced genjutsu type." He responded, turning his gaze to her. "You should rest, Sakura."

He heard her grumbling under her breath about her lack of genjutsu experience and made a noise in an attempt to redirect her attention to him once more. "Be ready to leave for a three day trip by the morning after next. There is much to be taught and a limited amount of time to do so."

"Wait," She spoke loudly as he began to move toward the door, scrambling off the bed after him. "You're going to train me?"

"Against my better judgment, yes." He answered, placing his hand on the doorknob once he was next to the exit.

"What are you going to teach me?" She asked excitedly, shifting from foot to foot in an almost bouncy manner. He still hadn't responded after a minute of silence so she hedged, "Are you going to teach me genjutsu?"

His eyebrow rose as if to say 'among other things' and she could not hold back the squeal that escaped her as she threw herself at him, arms wrapping around Itachi's neck to hug him in glee.

His hands shot up as she collided with him and he held them away from the both of them, unsure of what to do with the appendages. It had surely been years since he'd given or received any sort of affectionate attention and it was apparent that he didn't know how to respond.

"You put your arms around me and squeeze, you moron." She told him as though he had read his mind and squeezed a little tighter as a demonstration.

After a long moment, his arms came down to cross over her back and he returned the hug, albeit stiffly. She pulled back after a moment to look him in the eye. "Thank you," She spoke sincerely, standing on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on the bewildered Uchiha's cheek.

The instant he felt her lips touch his cheek, his heart rate doubled and he knew in that moment that Haruno Sakura would eventually be the death of him, what with her maddening mood swings and naïve enthusiasm to be trained by him, to learn to mask her emotions. Couple that with her frustrating tendency to talk until he responded or told her to shut up—and he knew right then that he would have a hard time ever saying no to her.

She reminded him so much of the Sasuke from before, but at the same time it was like she was the complete opposite—he wasn't quite sure _how_ to explain it to himself, let alone begin to put the sentiment into words.

After holding on to her embrace for far longer than he felt comfortable, he untangled his arms from her and pulled them from around his neck, gaze connecting with hers. "Get some sleep, Sakura."

* * *

It was with a sigh of relief that Sakura let herself fall to the ground in a graceless heap. They had been traveling for two days already and were slated to arrive at the Akatsuki base in the civilian territory between Taki and Oto the next day. She knew that they would have already gotten there if Itachi had pushed forward at his normal pace, but she couldn't be bothered to mention anything concerning the matter, as it was hard enough to keep up with what he saw as a leisurely speed.

She watched as he set up a fire and lit it, lost in her thoughts. Despite numerous attempts to get him to divulge any hints about their impending training, he would not budge in his silence, though she couldn't grasp why he was so tight-lipped about the subject.

Another thing she couldn't comprehend was her eagerness to know all of the details—she had never _dreamed_ of acting this obnoxious toward Tsunade-shishou or Kakashi-sensei.

A thought struck her and before she managed to reign in her tongue, the words had already passed her lips. "Should I call you Itachi-sensei from now on?"

Her face bloomed into what she knew was certainly an unflattering shade of red; she added quickly, "Feel free to ignore that question."

She caught a glimpse of his shocked expression before it disappeared as quickly as it had come. The ability to speak, it seemed, took longer to return. "I would prefer if you simply called me by my name."

She nodded quickly, eyes glued to the fire in an embarrassed attempt to avoid his. Why did she act this way around him? She generally wasn't even half as free with her words as this around her teammates.

The only logical explanation she could come up with was that Akatsuki was making her lose her already tenuous grip on her sanity. Surely if things continued this way for much longer, she was doomed.

Deciding that a change in subject was needed, Sakura asked the question that had been plaguing her since he'd informed her of their destination: "Why are we going to this particular base? Why not somewhere else?"

He focused at a point somewhere past her shoulder for a minute before his gaze met hers. "The others don't use it often, so it's more private than the rest. Also, the surroundings will provide an interesting… training tool." The last part of his response was accompanied by a smirk.

The look on her face was one of abject confusion before she shook it off, deciding that she would find out what he meant when the time was right.

Whatever that meant.

* * *

It was day four since arriving at the empty Akatsuki base and Itachi had been beating the hell out of her from the moment they got there. Before they'd reached their destination, however, she had finally grasped the meaning of what he'd meant by his strange comment while they were traveling: the civilian territory they were staying in was riddled with bandits. They came from every direction and they were stupid enough to not take the hint even after seeing countless other groups get their asses handed to them.

She had been wrong—so _very_ wrong—to have ever thought that any aspect of Itachi's form was lacking and she had long since begun to regret having underestimated him. What made it worse was that she _knew_ he was not using the full extent of his abilities against her—not even close. She was beginning to think he enjoyed flouting his obvious strength over her as she laid in a heap of bone and rubbery muscles, her breath coming in sharp gasps.

If she hadn't learned so much from him in such a short period of time, she'd probably be ready to call it quits right about then.

Her eye cracked open as a shadow loomed over her and she groaned upon seeing the reason for her injury standing over her, looking none the worse for wear. He reached out to give her a hand up and she took it shakily. If he made her go one more time she would be an aching, stiff mess by morning.

He pulled her to her feet, reaching an arm out to steady her as she wobbled a bit on her feet. "That's enough for today. Go clean up, I'll prepare dinner."

Whether he was taking pity on her or something else, she didn't know, but she would have hugged him at his words if she didn't think she would fall over in the process.

She nodded quickly, planning to make a quick getaway lest Itachi change his mind, but her body protested against the movements and she was forced to progress at a rate that an old woman might, slowly making her way to the building, muscles groaning in complaint all the while. Her mind cursed his existence the entire way to her bathroom and she wondered what she had been thinking when she'd been so excited upon finding out that he was going to train her.

Once she finally reached her destination—Itachi having swiftly passed her on the way, the smug bastard—she opened the taps on the faucet and plugged the drain before she slowly began the process of undressing, teeth clenched to fight back the pained noises that threatened to pass her lips. After she had finished shedding her clothes, she chanced a look down at her body and wasn't surprised to find bruises scattering her skin, some an angry purple, others barely visible.

Deciding not to dwell on it—the outcome would make it worth it, she told herself—she stepped into the basin and lowered herself into the steaming water, a deep sigh of relief rushing past her lips. The heat of the bath was already doing wonders to sooth the ache she felt and she made a silent pledge to take one every night after her training sessions with Itachi if it would diminish her pain as quickly as her current one was.

She sunk further into the water until it came to rest just below her nose, her eyes fluttering shut as she thought over the past couple of days. She was by no means over the guilt she felt for her part in the extraction of the nibi, but she hadn't had much time to think about it with Itachi keeping her so busy. For a moment, she couldn't help but wonder if it was an intentional move on his part or just a positive side effect. As it was, he had been incredibly lenient toward her since their conversation about her mission.

He was nicer toward her, which had startled her at first—she wasn't aware that anyone with the Uchiha surname could be kind at all, having been under the impression that they were all unbearable bastards. Though, Uchiha name in mind, the term 'nice' was a relative one, at best.

The nicety, however, didn't extend to the training field. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that he was coaching her on her weaknesses and telling her how to improve as he beat the living hell out of her, she would have thought he'd forgotten that they were supposed to be training at all.

It sucked and she hurt like hell afterward, but she'd never thought she could gain so much over the course of a few days. Already she was able to block more of his shots and at rare times even avoid them, and to top it off, she'd actually managed to get a solid hit on him during their last sparring session.

She still hadn't gotten him to tell her the full extent of the training they would be doing, though. He had become increasingly wordy in conversations with her, but as soon as the subject of training arose, he reverted back to the ever-silent Itachi she tended to want to punch to Kiri. She knew that losing her temper toward him only served to amuse him though, so she had just taken to not mentioning it at all in order to avoid the situation entirely.

Taking a deep breath, she sunk until she was fully submerged in the water, her hair tickling against the skin of her shoulders as the current rippled from her movement. Her eyes stayed closed and she took joy in the sensory deprivation, allowing her to block out the world, if just for a moment.

The moment was torn forcefully from her as she was yanked from the water and held firmly, a hand covering her eyes while she assumed the other was holding the kunai that was placed to her throat. Her breath came in short gasps—possibly a lack of oxygen from her time spent underwater, but more likely because she'd just been attacked while she was bathing.

She squirmed in an attempt to get away, her muscles too weak from her earlier training to fight off her attacker properly, but ceased immediately as she heard a growl next to her ear. Who the hell was this person and what had happened to Itachi? Was it possibly ROOT or someone else? How had the person even _found_ them? And where the _hell_ was Itachi?

A chuckle brushed past her ear and her stomach dropped at the resulting shiver that coursed through her limbs. Her captor moved their mouth closer to her ear—close enough that she could feel lips brushing the edges of her skin—and they finally saw fit to speak after what seemed like an eternity.

"One should never let their guard down, _Sakura_. Even the shortest window of time will allow an enemy to strike. You must be ready to fight at _all_ times, regardless of the situation." From the moment his voice had registered, rage began gathering, flowing through her veins like lava. By the time he was finished, she was ready to rip him to shreds.

She tore from his grip without bothering to heed the sharp blade held fast to her neck, the skin being nicked as she went; blood instantly welled from the wound and fell down to mix with the water that covered the column of her neck. Her fist came up once she had faced him, completely disregarding the fact that she was naked. "Uchiha Itachi, you have exactly _five_ seconds to get the _hell_ out of this bathroom before I tear you to pieces! That was _completely_ unnecessary, you asshole!"

His eyes widened—though in hindsight she highly doubted it was because she had frightened him, more likely that he was shocked to see her so unconcerned at her state of undress—before he disappeared in a flurry of hand seals and smoke, leaving her to scowl at the place he had previously been standing.

She crossed her arms over her chest before stepping back into the tub and sinking down, a murderous glare directed at the faucet. The nerve of him, coming in her while she was bathing! She understood the concept of staying alert all too well; she didn't need _him_ to demonstrate it so insensitively.

Once the adrenaline from the situation drained away, a traitorous voice in her head quietly pointed out the fact that the flame that burnt low in her gut had nothing to do with the fury she had felt toward him in the situation.

* * *

So, right away I'd like to apologize for being a week late in posting this. My (sort of) beta, **moldycookies**, was on vacation and I really wanted another set of eyes to look over this before I posted, mostly because I'm paranoid about typos and all that jazz.

Second, I wanted to thank everyone that left reviews for the last chapter; I can't even begin to say how much I appreciate it. You've all done nothing but encourage me to continue with the story, and I really don't want to let any of you down. To **Tealeavz**, thank you so much! Your review really made my day. You should definitely make an account so that next time (if there is one), I can respond back to you. :)

Also, I'd like to encourage you all to ask questions if you have them. I'd like to think that my writing is just so awesome that you guys don't _need_ to ask questions but… well, I highly doubt that's the case. So if you have questions that won't totally spoil the story (which I wouldn't answer anyway ;)), feel free to ask. I promise I don't bite… _too_ hard.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to post another chapter before my classes start on the 24th and I'm planning to start the editing process over the next night or so, so hopefully this stupid upper-respiratory infection that I have will go away. Say… yesterday? -.- Once classes start, though, I'm going to be way more busy, because I am _determined_ to make Dean's List this semester. Plus, I might be getting a job soon, so that'll cut my time down, too. But fear not! I have chapters finished through thirteen that just need to be edited and beefed up a little before they see the light of day. I'm working out a few kinks for the next part of the story, but I'm planning on writing until my fingertips bleed once that's finished.

I'm going to shut up now, because this is getting ridiculously long. But thanks for reading, and please show your resident author some love by clicking that little link situated in the middle of the page below and reviewing! Not to sound like a broken record, but reviews = motivation = more chapters more quickly. :D


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